


Little Moments in the Ordinary

by corgiles



Series: Zukka Week 2019 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, just a smorgasbord honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 10:59:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corgiles/pseuds/corgiles
Summary: Sokka just had to be cursed. That was the only way to explain why the person who only four months ago he had a healthy dose of genuine fear for was now standing in his kitchen introducing himself to his dad as his boyfriend. He just had to remember no matter how many cupcakes Zuko got him or how close they got as reluctant group project partners, they were only pretending to be dating for Thanksgiving. That couldn't be too hard...right?





	Little Moments in the Ordinary

**Author's Note:**

> This is slightly late but it was originally intended for Thanksgiving but uh i was a little late on getting it done and then it kind of expanded way longer than I was expecting. It's in time for Zukka week though? Sorry for any mistakes or excess cheesiness, I got excited to finally finish this. Please enjoy!

~ August ~

Sokka’s lips were pulled up in a grimace. 

When he scheduled his classes, the one class that made him slightly excited was the philosophy in english that finished off his common courses. Sokka arrived early but sat towards the middle back for optimal seating. 

The professor began on time despite the room having quite a few seats empty. A few stragglers came in as he spoke, his eyes sharpening against their guilt but said nothing. “The structure of this class is an essay after the conclusion of every book followed by a group presentation. We’ll be reading four books over the course of the semester but that’s detailed on the schedule I’m passing out. Group members are already assigned and on the third sheet.” 

Group work. Those dreaded words made him want to forego any hope of actually passing this class. He glanced around the classroom trying to predict his group members or atleast form some semblance of control on the quickly spiraling situation. He could only hope that he wasn’t stuck with people who wouldn’t do anything. He flipped lazily through the syllabus, only scanning the words as the professor droned on about the history of the books and his choice of them. While he would’ve usually found it at least interesting, he found the list of groups on the last page and his world began to crumble. As soon as his eyes made contact with the dreaded name listed beside his, a late classmate slide through the cracked door in an attempt to be quiet. The professor greeted him with a glare that sent him rocketing into the closest open seat in the front with a mumbled, “Sorry.” 

It was Zuko. 

His history with Zuko was short and not well-defined in actual words said to one another. If he had to associate him with anyone if would be the one who had the most experience with him: Aang. Which is why, when he sent a quick text to Katara under his desk at the risk of his professor sending him to an early grave, he received an immediate response. It was freshman and sophomore year that had defined their time with Zuko. As they had walked along the vast sea of tables promoting clubs set up the first week of classes their freshman year, Aang had made a beeline for the underdogs. He joined the small time quidditch team at their college that had originally consisted of two and a half players after a brutal match and graduation the previous year. Through brute haggling of the ultimate frisbee and rugby team along with Aang’s unrelenting enthusiasm, they had managed to scrounge up a pretty decent team. Aang being one of the fastest seekers around helped as well as their annoying penchant for bouncing back fast even after a hard loss.

Due to convenience of location, a true saving grace in rebuilding a quidditch team, they had multiple matches against better teams and participated in tournaments enough to start gaining a name for themselves. So when they were invited, or better put as bugging the hell out of the committees in charge, to a larger tournament that included more prestigious schools and teams they were thrilled. They just weren’t expecting the utter defeat they suffered at the hands of Zuko and his team nearing the close of the day. The number of times Aang was tackled or beat by the other team as he struggled to save their points via the snitch crossed into double digits by the time they were through. The sheer anger that was channeled into Katara’s beats that day were stronger than a tropical storm. 

The next semester, they began encountering the team more often and while they held out longer each time, they just barely escaped with a few concussions and a sprained ankle. While most games ended with friendly handshakes and collaboration, they had been brushed off every time by Zuko in a way that left a bitter taste in their mouths and fueled hours of pent up angry car silence on the ride back from the games. The last tournament of the season had changed everything. They had managed to scrape a win out of one of the last games and while they had come in second to last place, it had been one of the most exhilarating days.

He glared at the back of his head for the rest of the syllabus session from his advantaged corner. The second the professor dismissed the class, he held back the need to flee so he didn’t have to pass Zuko. He was reading a text from Katara in the emptying hall when he found he was not going to escape without talking to him like he’d hoped. 

_‘Aang said he found him earlier and apologized??? Apparently he seemed genuine but be careful’_

“Sokka, right?”

Startled, he held back the urge to jump. He turned to the voice and looked up at impossibly beautiful eyes flushed with gold. He cleared his throat, “Zuko.”

Zuko nodded and shifted his feet, eyes fluttering around the space and hands grasping. The tension bled slowly from his body as Sokka sighed, “Do you have something to say?”

The response was quick but confident, “I’m sorry.”

Sokka snapped to attention and searched the other’s face for signs of sincerity. He certainly looked nervous and awkward. The complete opposite of the player who had no problem taking down an entire team through his strategy. He felt a cold rush down his spine and his eyebrows folding inwards, “Yeah, okay, I’ll tell that to Aang’s two concussions and Suki’s sprained ankle.”

“Do you...do you know where I can find Suki, actually?”

He sucked in a breath and tried to appease the rising protectiveness threatening his outward apathy, “Why?”

“I wanted to apologize to her in person.” 

“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?” He could feel his shoulders setting back, readying for war or another match; same thing in the end. 

“Yes.”

That caught his fading attention and Sokka eyed him with suspicion, “Did you transfer here just for that? To apologize to people you played too rough of quidditch against?”

Zuko leveled his stare, “Not fully.”

Sokka felt the tips of his fingers begin to grow cold, “But partially?”

“Yes.” He saw the resolution in the other’s eyes and a cold chill washed from his tightened throat to his toes. 

His stomach grumbled and tossed and he found himself nodding goodbye without another word and made a dash for the exit. With headphones in, his feet took him on a tour of the campus to his and Katara’s apartment, his head fuzzy and tangled. His cell phone buzzed impatiently against his thigh three times before he finally answered it. 

His sister’s frantic voice greeted him after he barely had the phone to his ear, “Don’t ignore me, I was worried! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He twisted the strap of his bag and rolled his eyes as she equipped her worrying voice. 

“Where are you?”

He looked up to see the building they lived in, “Outside the apartment.”

His phone went silent and he pulled it away to see she had hung up. He had barely put it away before she was already barrelling out the door shouldering on a coat. She grabbed an arm, “C’mon we need to eat something good after this kind of day.” He let her lead him for a few minutes until they moved in rhythm and they headed towards the street with the string of restaurants. She graciously gave him a few moments of silence before she couldn’t take it anymore, “Are you okay?”

Sokka sighed, unsure if he even wanted to dwell on it, “Yes, geez, he didn’t even say much.”

Her stride faltered, “Wait, did you talk to him?”

He pulled her forward as soon as she began to slow down, “Yeah. He stopped me in the hallway and apologized, I guess.”

She jerked her arm back towards her but kept pace again, “You guess? Are you guys still group mates?”

“The professor wasn’t too keen on changing anything unless someone dropped and a group was only one person.”

“Oh, man.” She scrunched her face in pity and all he wanted in that moment was to change the subject. They reached the coffee shop they frequently visited and he rushed them inside, eager to focus on heavenly smelling pastries instead. She wasn’t going to give up easily, however. “What did he say exactly?”

Sokka felt the rush of white hot anger flush through him just picturing the other’s smug face. “Who cares? He can go fuck himself.”

Katara gave him a hard jab to the arm, causing several people in line to briefly turn their way, “Sokka!”

“What? He’s intimidating! I’ll give him that he apologized for his earlier shit, but it doesn’t really give him an excuse.”

She glared at him and he met her in childish splendor. She turned to face the menu board with a flourish, “I think you might just be bitter about the last game.”

“You don’t even like him so why are you defending him? Is it because Aang suddenly thinks he’s okay?”

Something appeared to change in her expression, a micro movement of her eyebrows that only a sibling would catch. She cleared her throat, “Well, he does have good instincts.”

 

“Katara, sis, I’m telling you that there is nothing about the almighty Zuko that is worth defending.”

She flipped her hair hard into his face before walking up to give her order, not bothering to tell him that the target of his words was standing less than two feet away. 

He startled for the second time that day when a finger tapped his shoulder. The third time was when he turned into the face of Zuko. His heart was in his throat choking him as he sputtered out the other’s name. 

In the coolest and most neutral way possible, as if he hadn't just seen Sokka attempt to reenact a cardiac attack, he casually said, “Hey, I didn’t get to ask you earlier for your number.”

Sokka’s heart gave another jump along with his eyebrows as he exclaimed, “Excuse me?”

He thought maybe he saw a flash of hurt on the other’s face, but he felt justified when he thought of all the bruises he had left. Well, until Zuko replied curtly, “For the group project for class.”

“Oh.”

He was finding the neutral face of Zuko harder to read than an Ayn Rand novel. He watched the other shuffle his feet that almost made him appear uncomfortable but his face gave nothing away. “Even if you hate me, I’m not going to let you or me do all the work. It’s a class - I’m sure we can be civil for the minimum two hours it would take to put a project together.”

“Yeah, well, you underestimate me.” He wanted to shoot himself into the stratosphere once the words were out of his mouth but continued on best he could by remaining silent and refusing to give. 

The staring contest ended when Zuko produced a small slip of paper from his pants pocket. He held it out until Sokka took it without breaking eye contact. He then walked away with his hands in his pockets, not even ordering anything. Sokka wondered if he had followed him all the way from class to his apartment to the coffeeshop without him noticing and if he actually found that creepy. He couldn’t decide when his brain kept leaning into wanting to label him ‘cool’. His eyes focused on the door he had left through until Katara came up behind him and snatched the slip away. 

“Is this his _number_?” 

She dodged his attempt to reclaim it and he sighed, “For the class group.”

There was only a name with a number below it, but she stared as if decoding a treasure map. “Are you going to text him? You do have to do the projects for a grade and they sound interactive so I highly doubt you can just do it all by yourself.”

Sokka shrugged, taking the slip of paper back and moving to order once he made eye contact with the person behind him giving him the stink eye for holding up the line. He didn’t know what to think anymore. He had spent over a year dreading any contact with the guy who had just spoken to him as if they had never interacted before now. 

—- 

That night he laid under his covers considering the implications of the apology and the slight hurt that he had seen on Zuko’s face. He kept telling himself he was doing it for the grade and it was just a game. But those tournaments had never felt like just a game. The sheer adrenaline in Zuko’s eyes went far past friendly competition and there was no going back on any action once it happened. But now, he could see the cloudiness in Zuko’s eyes a little clearer and it wasn’t eagerness to rip him apart, but more like the shadows were those lurking behind him instead. Or at least that's what he told himself when his thumbs finally tapped the screen. 

It was two days into the weekend when he finally sent a simple, ‘This is Sokka’ before he threw his phone onto his bed. He didn’t want to come to regret it. What he really wanted was to just forget about it and move on with his life. And somehow still, between the homework and procrastinating, a pull on his stomach had him checking and rechecking every so often until it finally dinged late in the afternoon. 

_'Are you free Wednesday after class?'_

—-

The first time they met up, it was in the library on neutral ground. Aang had let both Suki and Toph in on the drama by what he claimed was accident so he knew if he turned the right corner he would uncover a few protective and curious friends. 

It took ten minutes to follow Zuko’s vague directions to his table in a dark unused corner but only five seconds into Sokka sitting down before he asked, “What do you know about Machiavelli?”

Sokka finished putting his backpack down before responding, “Way to just jump in there, champ.”

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows but gestured with the book he had turned to the last few pages, “It’s our first assignment.”

The tension was as crisp as the new book’s spine and he tried to force a smile, “Are you machia me?” It wasn’t his best pun, but he would take anything at this point that he could scavenge. Even if it came from the dumpster outside a Taco Bell. 

Zuko barely glanced up as he fiddled with a folded corner of a page, “No.”

He graciously took another leap, his lip grinding between his teeth. He could do this, “So, you’re velling _me_ , that you read it all already?”

Zuko pulled out a laptop that had a slick black casing lit with red flames. The sound of it booting up - he was briefly impressed by how unanxious he looked by this fact- was followed by a very blunt: “I have some experience with Machiavellian theory.” 

“Oh? Your own or someone else’s?”

This earned him a glare that could’ve boiled his veins if it had any power in their plane of existence, “I don’t understand your accusation.”

Sokka sat up further in his chair, pulling his legs neatly in front of him. He tried to keep the impact out of his words as he asked curiously, “Are you just really socially awkward or only a jerk?”

“Could honestly ask the same of you, if you just ask people that.” 

He wanted to be taken back but quickly realized his rudeness, “Touché.” 

Still, Zuko had the guts to look sheepish and a bit guilty. As he opened his mouth to say more, his phone started buzzing and when he looked at it, his face dropped like an anchor. He mumbled an excuse Sokka couldn’t hear over his scramble and his curious eyes failed to get a glimpse of the name as it was snatched away. Zuko stood up without much thought about their location, the chair banging against the table as he answered the call. Sokka watched as he walked further away, body rigid and turned into an empty row of books. For the first time, he saw long arms fold inwards under themselves as his eyes darted along the curve of the shelves and his legs shuffled his weight along the pace of his curt responses. 

He tried to play off his peeking as the other shortly hung up and reapproached the table, but he walked as if he was attending a funeral. His subconscious fluttered in to suggest maybe he’d honestly rather be at one than with him. He tried to shake off the thought and reframe it in a way that didn’t vacuum suck all of the good vibes from the situation. The fact that they had maimed each other yet was a miracle in his opinion. As casually as he could, Sokka leaned his weight on his outstretched arm and asked, “Have you looked at any of the other books yet?”

The darkened expression didn’t lift completely but he thought maybe he saw a spark of interest. He pulled out the class schedule as Zuko gathered his cool. In the end, it felt like hours of long drawn out work as they vied for control over the situation. Or that was what he felt like he was doing similar to how a dentist just knows what he’s doing is dentistry. Sokka hadn’t finished the first chapter yet so he couldn’t contribute much to the project or essay writing but Zuko wasn’t about to let their group time go to waste. Finally, he sat back in his chair, an outline of their intentions for the project and a schedule of meetings in front of him. 

Zuko looked to the computer’s clock, “We can work on it more next week once we hit the next few chapters, if that’s better for you.”

With a nod, Sokka closed his book and lazily pulled out his binder for his math class. He watched Zuko from the corner of his eye, waiting for some sort of cue for the next move. “Are you...doing anything now?”

Zuko flipped the next page in his notebook revealing scrawls of intelligible scribbles that was either some sort of code or super bad handwriting, “Studying.”

“Right...right here?”

He gave him a confused look, “Yeah?”

Not wanting to push the subject after they had been pretty civil for over an hour, he turned back to his binder with his eyes trained on the words. Eventually the tension melted from his back and he dived into the work he previously procrastinated on. If he was aware of Zuko potentially judging his work ethic, he figured it might encourage himself to actually study. They sat together until dinner in a comfortable silence.

\---

~ September ~

“So...Zuko, huh?” 

Sokka looked over startled to Suki who wiped her brow after setting her weights back down. He was sitting cross legged and conflicted in the corner as she lifted. He had been participating until he couldn’t concentrate any longer. She took a giant gulp of water while she waited for his reply. Finally, he groaned loudly, “I’m so confused! So far he’s been way nicer than before and there’s times when I think maybe he just has an evil twin or something?”

Suki hummed into her water bottle, “I don’t think he was really that mean before. Like sure, there were times when it felt like he might kill one of us, but sometimes it seemed like he was just kind of sad?”

“If you think being insanely angry is sad.”

“Hey, you don’t know the full story. With how he’s acting now and his apology, maybe he just was under a huge pressure.” She paused, “And some anger issues.”

He grumbled as he considered it. The phone call that he couldn’t stop thinking about. The way his mood shifted so quickly, “It doesn’t excuse his behavior before.”

“No, it absolutely doesn’t,” She replied without hesitation. “That would make it far too easy.”

He flopped on his back with a dramatized moan, “I just...what does he even want?”

She scrunched her nose in the way he always adored before, “Maybe a friend?”

He sat up and tucked his chin into his palm, “Suki, you’re too good for every one here.” 

She rolled her eyes but smiled as she picked her weights back up, “You say that too much.”

\--- 

He sighed long and slow with his arms crossed, rocking his chair back and forth. 

After the second thud of his chair hitting the ground too hard, Zuko gripped the back of it without warning as he leaned back again and set it on all fours hard. He looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m just going to work on my essay instead of our project if you’re not going to pay attention.” His threats made his legs feel like jello as he thought back on the terrifying image of Zuko approaching to tackle. 

With a burst of courage, he blurted: “Are you going to join our Quidditch team?” It was the beginning of practices soon and the sign-ups thus far had been sparse but promising.

He watched as Zuko’s typing paused over the keys and the cursor blinked. Sokka was beginning to think he might just ignore him and he’d be stuck in a cavern of echoing tumultuous silence until he finally replied, “No.”

Shocked from the break in quiet, he found the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them, “Why?” 

Zuko’s fingers weren’t near the keys anymore but drumming out a beat against the table. Sokka attempted to keep his gaze focused on his face as he wanted a solid answer, but his eyes waved between the hand that tapped in the gap between them and his face. On the very few occasions they had interacted, he usually sat or stood with Zuko to his left, but today he was on the left. It felt weird and unnatural because it had been a routine even when walking in the sparse amount of times they had gone the same way after class or meeting. This way, however, he could see the edges of raised skin and the discoloration along his left eye that left him shuddering at how much pain it had caused. He followed the curves and spikes and while he wanted to wonder about the story behind it, he got distracted by the planes of the rest of Zuko’s face. His nose was scrunched and he had a mere faint splattering of freckles that could be mistaken as an uneven skin tone. His hair was longer than when they played against each other and now spouted little hairs that he tucked behind his ears in frustration or when he thought too hard which curled inward along his cheek. The eyebrow he had was messy and untamed, tiny strands of hair fighting for attention, and he had a small piercing that looped around the end. He was so engrossed in reframing the other’s face that he almost missed those eyes sneaking a glance at him. 

“I want to focus on my studies and it wasn’t a healthy outlet for me. Plus it’s dangerous.” He studied the slide of his eyes as he made the last remark and he sat back as if he could somehow avoid it. 

“You sure seemed to enjoy it before,” He mumbled under his breath.

Zuko, unfortunately but as usual, heard him. He cocked his head to the side and blinked slowly at him like a cat stretching to pounce on his prey, “Did I?”

Sokka gulped but as he thought back to the games and the bruises and the terror, he didn’t ever really see Zuko excited or supportive to anyone. There was always a dissonance between their team and his and at the first game, when they were new and just learning, it was mistakable as a difference in level. By the last game, it had been clear it had not been just a competitive spirit that alienated that team. He was hesitant to even call them a team when he thought about their lack of organization and teamwork. If anything, they were really good at some parts and a competitive spirit kept them fighting together, but nothing was there to give them reason to care if another got hurt or needed help. Suki’s wise perspective also tainted his view of before now.

“I’m not sure,” he eventually acquiesced under his breath but Zuko had already gone back to typing as if the question had never been asked.

\--- 

The first time they ate together was instigated by a Quidditch incident. With Zuko’s very pointed insistence that Quidditch was dangerous and not wanting to prove him right, the anticipation of being asked to recall the moment of injury had expanded in his gut and had begun encroaching further up towards his heart throughout the entire weekend. On Monday, when they made their friendly eye contact in class, the look he received when it was noticed that he was on crutches only increased his anxious mood. By their meeting time on Wednesday, he had tried to shake the feeling to no success. 

He approached their usual table with no intentions of bringing up the cause of his injury. With a very clever and well-thought out plan to deflect attention, once they made eye contact he began to ramble ideas off. They still had to pick a format to present in and they had come to little consensus so far. Zuko raised an eyebrow but took down the ones he liked as Sokka settled in. Convinced he had at least changed the subject, he watched the other type a list. He realized he was breathing too close too late. 

He was forced back with a look. Apparently, he was not getting off as easy as he thought. Zuko resumed typing but asked, “And what, pray tell, did you do to end up on crutches?”

He swallowed and tried to act as natural as possible. He propped his head up with an elbow in an effort to be casual but out of sight chewed his cheek, “None of your business.”

As if that was enough of an answer, or perhaps just confirmed his theory, Zuko nodded and started to flesh out their ideas. It wasn’t until later that he would realize it wasn’t over when a calmed discussion about the latest reading had delved into a mac and cheese debate. Sokka had quickly gotten hungry and was very subtly hinting that he wanted to go get food. But instead, after Zuko had stayed quiet seven minutes into his comparison of fancy cheeses, he finally pinned him with a stare, “What team?”

Sokka, knowing it was useless to deny it, raised an eyebrow and shot back with narrowed eyes, “Why does it matter? It’s already done and happened.”

“I’ll start guessing,” came the threat in a cold tone. Zuko leaned closer and he felt his heart stop for a moment at the change of pace. He tried to turn into his book and look busy but he could feel the heat of a glare against his face. 

He groaned into his hands as he heard the other’s intake of breath to begin the interrogation, “Please don’t.”

“Then tell me.” The challenge was set and he knew he wouldn’t escape without either answering or a casualty. 

He bit his lip and adjusted his ankle again but winced as it throbbed in pain. He leveled a stare and began the bargaining state of denial, “If I tell you, can we go eat ‘cause I’m starving.”

“Ok.” Not expecting such a quick response, he sat stunned as Zuko packed away his things and stood. He reached a hand to help him stand and he took it with reluctance.

They walked out of the library and to the direction of the restaurants. He carefully maneuvered himself along but he noticed Zuko walked with more patience than he expected. He was beginning to regret having brought a bag at all every time it swung to hit his thigh and jolt his legs and they had nearly reached the first places to eat before he broke the silence, “Why do you care so much about what team it was?”

Zuko’s gaze was stuck to his crutches and the path in front of them, almost as if scanning for potholes and little dents in the sidewalk. “Why do you not want to tell me so much?”

“That’s fair,” He mumbled as he averted his eyes. “It’s not even that bad, it’s just for a few days.”

They entered the cafe where he had received Zuko’s number and he tried to dial back his surprise. The latter still noticed and shrugged, “I’ve liked this place since last year. I come here sometimes whenever I remember. We can go elsewhere if you don’t want to eat here.”

Sokka shook his head, “No, I like it here.” 

They sat down after ordering and there was a moment where they just stared at each other. He would have kicked himself in the shin if he had told past him he would be doing this. But the look in Zuko’s eyes as he tousled with a question on his mind and the amount of hesitation that followed it even before it was spoken would have changed his mind even without the progress they had made recently. 

Zuko was staring at his propped ankle when he finally asked, “Did I ever do that?” He wasn’t looking him in the eyes, but Sokka still jolted slightly in his chair as if punched in the gut. He steadied himself on the table and tried not to notice the hurt underneath the control of the other’s reactions. 

“Not to me,” he replied simply but didn’t elaborate. He knew he had, once again, already answered the question. 

\---

The day he was able to walk without a limp and wrapping his ankle, he got to class to see Zuko sitting in the seat next to him and his former table mate gesturing wildly in Zuko’s old seat to illustrate his wild tales to his new seat mate. His stories had been ones he dreaded hearing because they were always being told a few hours too early for his taste. He had repeatedly almost not gone to class to avoid it because he couldn’t bring himself to not engage. Sokka raised his eyebrow high at the change but said nothing as he slid into his usual chair. He turned his look to the ice prince who was studiously looking bored. Finally his gaze was met and he attempted to casually shrug - which was not convincing in the least, “What? I thought it might be easier if we sat next to each other and the person who sat next to me talks way too much; especially for 9 in the morning.”

Sokka tried to stop his grin from widening and the pleased feeling from spreading but he knew his pursed lips and bright eyes only drove the point home, “Oh? And do I talk the perfect amount for 9 in the morning? I thought I was too talkative for even 4 in the afternoon.”

It was Zuko’s turn to raise an eyebrow and he twirled his pencil absently, “I never said that.”

He swallowed the sudden burst of warmth in his chest and turned to face forward, unsure of how to respond to that. He had always assumed he was annoying to the grouch, but he could tell the other was being genuine in his words. 

A gentle touch to his shoulder made him to turn back to see a box being sat in front of him, “What is this?”

Zuko looked everywhere but the gift as he peeked inside, “I got you a cupcake.”

Sure enough, there was a towering cupcake with chocolate and strawberry icing piled high that he had eyed last time they went to the cafe together. He stumbled over his first thoughts before settling for, “You...got me a cupcake?”

He received a noncommittal shrug and Sokka, with fast heating cheeks, wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth if not having a cupcake was a risk, “Thank you-”

The professor began class before he could get a response other than a nod.

\--- 

Later that day when they met, Sokka felt the cupcake settling in nicely in his stomach, which was warm and fluttery at the treat. As he sat down, he put a cup in front of Zuko. At the questioning stare he shrugged, “I got you coffee.”

The shocked face was way worth the price of it, “What?”

“Well, you got me a cupcake and I didn’t want to drink one in front of you. It’s not a big deal.” Zuko continued to stare at it for longer than Sokka personally felt necessary before he took a small sip. When he didn’t seem to hate it, he took a drink of his own, “I figured if I asked you, you would say something ridiculous like a black coffee and suffer through it. I got you a snickerdoodle flavor that wasn’t too sweet and not too bitter. But if you don’t like it, we can trade; I got a mocha so it’s sweeter.”

“This is fine,” Zuko mumbled into the lid. He looked up with surprise after a moment, “Thank you, I...really like it.”

He tried to play it off but his fingers itched to fidget under the attention. He nodded and pulled out his things, “Sure, it was no problem.” 

They worked in silence on their individual essays for awhile with only slight breaks between when Sokka would find a cute dog picture or Zuko would offhandedly comment on something. Eventually an idea hit Sokka as he stared at their next reading on the schedule: Plato. It was written as dialogue and as he thought about converting it to a new format, he was inspired.

He turned to Zuko in a burst of hyperactivity, “We could do a play?” He was eyed for a few seconds too long, causing his pride to flare, “Hey, I’ll have you know I’m a great poet!”

The sigh was long-suffering and exaggerated, “Poetry is not the same as script writing followed by acting.”

Sokka’s head sunk back into his palm as he grumbled, “Tell that to Shakespeare.”

The look his eyes cast upon him was legendary and he could almost detect a _hint_ of teasing, “I would, but he’s dead.”

“Well, do you have any better suggestions?” 

Zuko gave him a once-over before settling on the doodles littering his binder’s cover, “Nothing with drawing skills required.”

He scrambled to cover them with his hands as his skin flared, “Hey! That’s just mean. I’m trying at least.” 

Zuko rolled his eyes but opened up a new google word document, “Fine, we’ll do a play if it heals your wounded pride.” Sokka watched as he gave it a title and linked it to him. He even changed the default font to something respectable. 

He sniffled but his chest felt lighter at the small smile emerging on the other’s lips, “It does, thank you.”

\---

Sokka cornered him one Monday after class with determination. Or, well, Toph’s determination to get more students for her martial arts class and ensuing threats. They walked in step down the stairs and he tried to quash the little fluttering in his chest at the acceptance Zuko had when he noticed his anxious waiting. He allowed his headphones to dangle from the neck of his shirt and raised his eyebrow, “Are you going outside in that? It’s raining.”

Sokka looked down to his band t-shirt and hoodless jacket, “I was running late this morning so I didn’t notice when I left and then didn’t have time to change.” He plucked at the end of his shirt and shrugged, “It’ll be fine.”

He received a firm neutral face that he quickly catalogued in his ever growing bank of Zuko’s facial expressions. They came to a sudden stop just before the doors, “What if you get sick? And it’s pretty cold today, you’ll freeze in wet clothes if you have to sit through another class.”

His forehead wrinkled, “Are you mother henning me? I can’t even do anything about it now. Also it’s September so-”

“Hold on,” Zuko replied and shuffled the things in his bag for a long moment. Sokka cocked his head and watched an interesting progression of what he thought to be skin beginning to flush. He rocked on his heels to stifle a smile. Eventually, Zuko surfaced with a small umbrella neatly wrapped, “Here.”

He looked from the umbrella to Zuko and took it against his core desire to refuse it, “What will you use then?”

In a more dramatic effort than truly needed, he watched as the other flipped the hood of the hoodie underneath his leather jacket up. He tried not to laugh too much as strands of hair were stranded outside the hood and others were smooshed in large clumps. He shook the umbrella with enough amusement to last a week, “We can just share, my dude. Where are you going next?”

They were thankfully going in a similar direction but the umbrella turned out to be smaller than either thought. After some adjusting and at least 50% of each of them protected against the rain, they set out. Zuko ended up holding it after Sokka had managed to whack both of them and shake a small pool of water into Zuko’s hood. 

They made their way quickly after finally figuring out how to perfect the technique and Zuko glanced at him, “Were going to tell me something earlier?”

He breathed in and tried to frame the invite in the best way possible. He eventually settled for: “Toph has a martial arts class on Monday night starting today and needs students. If you were interested.”

Zuko hummed as little droplets of rain rolled down one sleeve of his jacket. He nodded, eyes trained ahead, “Ah, that’s kind of cool.” 

“You’d get on her good side, if you came.” He said, praying it would work. He briefly wondered why he was so invested in convincing him to come but quickly remembered that he thought of Toph without a full class was scarier than Zuko being irritated at his pestering.

And it did work. Zuko turned to face him in front of the overhang where his next class was and nodded, “I’ll come, then.”

He blinked a few times to clear raindrops that clung to the bangs hanging in his face and the surprise from his eyes, “Okay, I’ll text you the details and see you there then.” He watched Zuko walk to the next building, forgetting he was still in the rain, puzzled but satisfied. Finally, he headed inside.

\---

True to his word, Zuko showed up to Toph’s class to her absolute delight. A full room fueled her strength and she commanded them with strength and absolutely no mercy for a grueling 30 minutes. By the time the break came around, they were panting and sweating as if they went to hot yoga and lifted weights in the heat instead. Sokka led him to the break corner where he gave him a towel and water bottle, “Regret coming yet?”

Zuko smirked, “No, this is actually kind of fun. Why? Feeling like such an easy workout is too much?”

He was still trying to even his breathing in his denial, “No, feels like a run in the park.”

“You’re so strong,” He replied with an eyeroll. “Honestly though, this is a really good class. Toph is doing a great job teaching.”

Sokka saw the earnestness in his compliment and swallowed his teasing, “Does that mean you’re glad you came then?”

In the pause for consideration, Sokka took the time to lecture himself that sweaty muscles were not, in fact, hot, but he couldn’t seem to convince himself that it was gross. He watched Zuko take a drink of water and catch the sweat dripping into his eye with a towel as he shrugged, “Yeah, I am.”

Without pause he replied, “I’m glad you came too.” And in the moment, he realized he meant it. He reveled in the little bursts of warmth swimming in his chest and his smile met hot cheeks. It was such a contrast to last year when the thought of him would have caused the opposite reaction. To shake his thoughts, he moved his focus and briefly snagged a moment where Aang showed Katara in the other corner an origami towel in the shape of a dragon he had somehow crafted.

He was brought back to their corner as Zuko said, “My uncle tells me I need to be more patient and willing to be open to opportunities so I’m glad you convinced me.”

“It was mainly Toph…”, He mumbled in an effort to not push too much but he felt a pull of interest to the soft words from Zuko. He reached for his water bottle and twisted off the cap. He watched him from the corner of his eye before he commented, “Your uncle sounds smart.”

Zuko’s lips rose, “He’s the wisest person I know.”

He choked on his water, “Excuse me, was that a praise and a smile in one? Is there an eclipse scheduled for today?”

“Don’t make me ruin my progress.” Zuko looked less threatening with sweat rolling down his cheekbones and his bangs plastered to his forehead but the lack of sleeves only emphasized his defined muscles and abilities. 

“Aye aye, Cap’n.” The smile was still a ghost on his lips, so Sokka counted that as a win.

Toph interjected before he could be melted by Zuko’s eye lasers. She slapped Sokka hard on the back as she passed, “Heya, dimwits! We’re starting again.”

Sokka could only notice that someone looked far too pleased after being called a dimwit but his back nerves were sparking from the sudden pain so he followed them back the middle of the room.

\---

~October~

Sokka wouldn’t admit it to even Suki, but he was watching the curve of Zuko’s bicep flexing once again as he typed instead of actually contributing. Half of him was wondering if his own bicep looked that nice while the other half was just plain distracted. Zuko paused as he checked his phone again for the eighth time - Sokka was counting. 

Not asking was burning him up inside more and more so when he watched it happen for the ninth time, his curiosity took over, “Gotta hot date or something, firecracker?”

Zuko didn’t make eye contact or even react past a slight twitch of his eye as he read the message. He sighed in a way that was more like a release of air and looked at Sokka as if his nose now housed his eyes, “Listen, I really just want to get this paper done as fast as possible so can we just focus on this?”

 

His irritation was weird considering the ease they had slipped into hanging out. They had started meeting more than they needed to for the project without either of them mentioning that it was veering into the territory of hanging out and had visited the cafe more than once since the first time. Bravely, Sokka spun his mechanical pencil with a flourish, his head landing in his palm. He lowered his voice, “What’s the magic word?”

Zuko’s eyes narrowed till Sokka felt vaguely cold wash over him as if he were being baptized in a summer pool, “I _will_ murder you.”

He tore his eyes away so fast he feared whiplash and clasped his hands together, “So, about this project.”

—-

“Hey!” 

Zuko turned, one backpack strap falling with the motion. “Hey.”

Sokka tore his eyes away from the slightly exposed collarbone and met the other’s eyes, “I drove past you earlier and waved but you ignored me.”

Zuko didn’t even bother appearing puzzled or feigning ignorance. His mouth set in a grim line that made Sokka’s stomach churn, “Yeah, I was on the phone.”

This was the hill he was going to die on apparently. Not the bruises or pain Zuko had previously caused, but that he wasn’t at least acknowledged. He had thought they were now friends or maybe acquaintances. If they were going to at the very least be group partners, they had to be friendly, “You could’ve waved.”

He was beginning to hear the difference in the Flat Tones of Zuko so he knew there was something more underneath his next words: “It was my dad.”

“Ah.” The silence that ensued was worthy of an Oscar. He had learnt quickly there was a certain inflection that meant he didn’t particularly want to talk about it and was an underlying threat to leave it alone. He attempted to put a leash on his impulse to ask before it was too late. Turned out, he didn’t have to because Zuko pursed his lips and said unprompted: “He hates me. Always leads to a bad mood.”

He felt his soul leaving his body. He scrambled to find a way to react in a sensitive and polite way without inquiring more or sounding like he didn’t care. He settled for, “Oh, I'm sorry, that’s rough.”

He met steady eyes and the sincerity in them spread throughout his chest, “I’ll wave next time.”

Still attempting to process, he could only think to suggest something from the tip of his tongue. “We...we can come up with a signal.”

Zuko’s nose flared slightly, a sign he was in a better mood, “What about a middle finger?”

He wasn’t fooled for a second at this point in their relationship, “You just wanna flip me off.”

He received only a shrug for his deduction skills, “Had to say it before you beat me to it.”

Sokka flipped him off without guilt. 

—

The weekend ended up being a wonderful mess of events. When Suki had told him of a party a club on campus was having, he hadn’t expected to see an actual party when he walked in. And he definitely hadn't expected to see Zuko. 

He found his feet walking him on over to a gloomy mop of hair sitting on the couch by himself. “Having a good time, grumpy?”

Zuko’s eyes widened slowly as it took him a second to register Sokka. As he leaned in closer, he caught a whiff of alcohol staining his clothes and an empty bottle by his foot. Having never considered him drinking before, he felt greatly taken aback. He glanced quickly for Suki in the crowd but she had texted him while he was walking that she might be late so he took a breath in and sat down next to him. 

Zuko’s brain to mouth filter seemed to be having difficulties as his eyebrows scrunched and his mouth chewed on foggy words, “Have you finished the chapter yet?”

Sokka drew back but started laughing, “Is that really what you want to talk about?”

Zuko fumbled with his shirt, setting his phone on the couch arm within his sight. He turned slightly so he was facing him better before mouthing and then saying louder, “What?” He narrowed his eyes as if that would help his hearing and Sokka briefly labeled it as kind of cute as his tipsy friend adjusted his legs so there was only a stretch of fabric of the couch between the two. Sokka took the offering and slid onto the second cushion, carefully leaving a modest amount of space.

“Anything else you want to talk about besides class? If I wanted a lecture, I would’ve gone to class instead.”

The confused expression he received had him clamping his lips together. “It’s Friday night, there’s no classes right now.”

A cold presence touched his cheek and it took every fiber of his being to not scream. He still jerked back enough that he rammed into the back of the couch and partially into a warmth being generated by Zuko. With a glance, he could tell the latter didn’t really mind but he had a gentle hand helping him sit back to his position. The desire to lean into the hand that guided him was almost too much. Two drinks were suddenly in their line of sight and he looked up with a flooding relief to see Suki, an absolute angel. He realized as he took one that he may have said the latter part out loud judging by her smile. She had a red solo cup tipped to her lips and he had a suspicion that she was laughing behind it. 

He smiled up at her as she ruffled his hair. As he twisted the cap off with a slight struggle that had her fully smothering her laughter behind her hand, he caught Zuko tossing back another drink as soon as his cap popped off. Unsure of how he got it off so quickly, he watched as the other blinked wide and he mumbled under his breath, “Why do I feel like you’re a lightweight.”

Suki gave him an interesting look she reserved for when he was being particularly stupid and he tried to avoid her gaze by taking a drink. The next few hours passed by quickly and he took turns alternating between finding new Zuko things out and watching Suki annihilate people at beer pong and the other drinking games they had set up in retaliation. He stayed to his one drink and Zuko had slowed down shortly after an hour in when Sokka began to distract him from drinking more. The alcohol settled against his chest with just enough warmth that he could feel it on his cheeks and forehead and he felt slightly less in control. At first, Zuko seemed unsure of Suki until she lightly punched him in tears from laughter when he tried out a new joke that didn’t deserve as much credit as she gave it. 

Later in the night they both had water and standing together against the wall during a slow song. She had been challenged to a bottle flipping contest for some reason and to break the silence Zuko softly said, “She’s really nice.”

 

Sokka smiled, “Yeah, she’s the best.” He followed Zuko’s gaze to her cheering and his heart clenched in slight jealousy. He tried not to grind his teeth or let it fester, preferring to swallow it down with another drink. 

Zuko looked over and he could see the haze from the alcohol still mixed with curiosity, “Do you love her, then? You mention her a lot.”

He snorted as he bit the edge of his cup, “I did in the overly romantic way at one point, but we weren’t meant to be together like that.”

The silence between them didn’t last long, “Why, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

He considered it for a moment as he tried to articulate what he had spent months trying to decide, “I think maybe bad timing? Or maybe because we both had different goals that didn’t work together? It was fun and I learned a lot about myself and love but...we were just at different stages in life.” He twisted one of the multiple rings he had put on for the party, “I think, sometimes you just know. You can have friends that become your partner because you think, why not? But then there’s friends who it just feels right with and the world will never be the same because you’ve met someone who you would give anything for and know they would give anything for you. Little moments that normal people take for granted seem intimate and gentle and you could just see them smile and feel like everything will be alright. For example...there’s an ease where even if you spend months apart and it’s painful, you can come back together and it feels like nothing’s changed. Not to say it’s easy, but there’s small things you see and it just reminds you of them and life feels a little less complicated and your heart feels full.” He schooled his face as he remembered the original question and smirked while raising his eyebrows, “Plus we’d be far too much of a power couple.”

He glanced to Zuko who tilted his head, “Love...has always been complicated for me from my parents and my sister...add being gay and not really getting to explore that side of me for awhile until I was out and my dad wasn’t a complete dick about it meant I really only had my Uncle to help me understand.” He shrugged and stared off in the distance, “Still pretty messed up from it.”

Suki came back before they could continue the conversation and every time he looked over to him, he just felt closer. Despite their rough start, he found spending time and talking to Zuko about things no matter if it was serious or something stupid so easy. He was smiling like a goof when Suki shoved him lightly, “Are you drunk?”

He pulled his lips in and drug her close by wrapping his arms around her neck, “Nope! Just happy.”

She rolled her eyes and with a slight slur said, “You’re such a nerd, you’re lucky I love you.”

“Excuse you, that’s _why_ you love me.”

“He’s right,” Zuko piped up unexpectedly. Sokka felt pleased at that and tried not to beam too brightly.

The party was beginning to die down at that point and with Suki ready to tap put and Zuko beginning to look overwhelmingly sleepy, Sokka herded them out the door. Suki’s apartment was closest and she waved with too much exuberance for how early it was in the morning but they both laughed anyway. 

Soon it was just the two of them walking side by side down the sidewalk with unsteady steps. It was quiet except for the crickets and the campus looked different from usual in the dark that was lit by the glow of street lamps and the moon. As they got closer to Zuko’s apartment, he absently noticed that he was more leaning on him and knocking their shoulders together. Zuko sniffled, “You always smell nice, it’s unfair.”

Sokka let his lips twitch upwards at his apparently not yet sober friend, “Yeah? Thank you.”

“My uncle would like you. You’re funny and kind even though you’re a sarcastic dick sometimes.”

Sokka let out a bark of laughter, “I think you just described yourself, my dude.” He paused to look at Zuko’s reaction but he just smiled at the ground. His chest fluttered at the sight and he continued on before he could stop himself, “That’s okay, I like you anyway.”

His truth seemed to ring out in the moonlight and he wondered if the meaning was lost to the wind that whipped around them. They reached the apartment door and lingered a second too long. Despite knowing he should feel anxious as Zuko met his gaze, he only felt warm and a type of happy that he knew was rare. The sudden slight chill to the wind felt comforting against his beating heart and while he searched for some kind of reaction that would hint to what his next move should be, they parted instead as if neither could find the courage. 

The ensuing interaction when they were both sober wasn’t as awkward as he had expected. Rather, he felt like he was hit upon the head with an epiphany. He had been dreading meeting Zuko at their assigned time. Leading up to it he had been trying to calculate the different scenarios and ended up freaking Katara out until she repeatedly nagged him while he refused to tell her anything. He sat down at their table and Zuko didn’t look up at first as usual, but as he pulled out his book when noticed the other was just staring at him. He ignored him for a few moments before staring back. 

The soft glow between them stuck with him in his thoughts for quite a while.He got distracted as Zuko continued to expand on his thought but stretched back in his chair and his arm muscles flexed as he twisted to crack his back. When he finally looked away, the talking had ceased and he noticed Zuko had raised an eyebrow, “Were you listening?”

Absently, he thought of how rough and accusing it used to sound a month ago, but now he could tell the annoyance wasn’t actually there. He moved his binder out of the way and gave his prize-winning, dazzling smile, “No, but I would be absolutely delighted if you started over.”

The glare he received didn’t damper his smile and after conceding to that fact, Zuko reluctantly started over.

—-

~ November ~

He watched as Zuko tightened the scarf up on his nose in what he could only describe as ‘huffy’. “ _Dude_ , it’s not even that cold.”

He mumbled something against the scarf. Upon seeing Sokka’s raised eyebrow, he jerked the scarf below his chin. He briefly thought that he looked more like a grumpy puppy than a threat. He pushed that thought to a pile in his brain he was saving for an analysis on how he was slowly becoming kind of mushy. He was chalking it up to upcoming finals which always made him more emotional. To his left, Zuko appeared to be pouting - well, if it could be called that. “Well, I think it’s cold. It feels like negative 20.”

Sokka checked his phone, a glove caught in his mouth so he could scroll, “It’s like, 34 degrees. It’s not even snow weather.”

“It’s close,” he grumbled. “Anyway, I just prefer to be warm.” He stalked further ahead before stuttering briefly looking like a midwestern Baywatch lifeguard in the Antarctic in a gesture that could be mistaken as a way for Sokka could catch up. 

As soon as he did, Sokka followed the reddening of Zuko’s ears and cheeks as he nestled in the scarf. He pulled out a second pair of gloves from his pockets, “Here, I have a spare set if you wanna double up.”

Zuko squinted at them before taking them with a short nod. He pulled them on before tugging his hood that had fallen again. The relief as he wriggled his fingers was enough for Sokka, but a satisfied Zuko turned to him as they stopped outside their destination, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

\---

The beginning of a series of misunderstandings began one night that he was skyping his dad. Katara was at her rock climbing competition she signed up for with Toph and he had decided to stay in. One of their essays for class was due tomorrow and he had been getting stressed text updates all day from Zuko who had two exams the next day as well while trying to kick Sokka to stop procrastinating. 

His phone dinged twenty minutes into a mostly one-sided discussion on sailing patterns. He saw Zuko’s name flash and his throat tightened a little. He waited until his dad took a breath, “Hold on, my partner is texting me. He was being weird earlier so I wanna check it.”

His dad immediately lit up, “Your partner? Sokka, are you dating someone? Do you have a boyfriend?”

He nearly dropped his phone in his shock, barely catching it as it teetered in his lap. He erased the accidental letters and thanked the heavens that it didn’t send. His dad, unfortunately, took his silence and response as an affirmative in a way only a parent could. 

“Sokka, you don’t have to hide if you’re dating someone. I’ll be happy with whoever you decide to be with. You don’t have to tell me anything but I’m glad you’ve found someone to spend time with.”

He watched the slight concern pull at his father’s wrinkles and the genuine happiness in his smile. His chest ached as he considered the denial kicking around in his mouth and swallowed it. “Thanks, dad.”

It couldn’t be too bad to just not confirm or deny anything, right? And as he thought about who he would date as he laid in bed that night, it wasn’t Suki as it once was about a year ago. He saw the slight smile of Zuko as he tried to hide his laughter and the warmth of his palm against his shoulder when he wanted him to focus. He told himself he would think about it more in the morning but the person his dad thought he was dating could’ve been worse. 

—-

It was a Monday when he knew he was a goner. 

In a turn of events, he had not done anything to provoke anyone recently. And yet, he found himself corned outside the only class he had with Katara and Aang on the week before Thanksgiving. She was imposing and brooding in a familiar way that sent shivers down his spine. 

She gave Sokka a once-over with a glint of interest, only briefly scanning over Aang and Katara. If he saw a hint of disgust at their interlocked hands, well, he couldn’t blame her. Katara took a step further in front of Aang, as if that would somehow provide him protection against her. Sokka felt in his core the knowledge that it would not, “Do you go here? I’ve never even seen you in class.”

She snorted loudly, “I would never grovel so low as to attend here. I would much rather stake myself through the heart and then apparate as a ghost from beyond my grave to give every single imbecile who ever dared think to send me an informational packet to anywhere but Harvard a compound fracture and leave them to bleed out upon the rotting snow of this godforsaken town.”

Sokka felt his mouth go dry, but not without slipping through a weak, “Ah, so pre-med, then.” 

She snorted and looked down her nose at him. “Pre-law, actually, but you can never have too many skills,” She said with a grin that was ready to slice him into slivers. “I honestly don’t see why my brother bothers hanging out with you losers. You’re not even worth the sensory information.”

“Brother?” As soon as the word left his mouth he witnessed two things. A soar of relief as Zuko turned the corner immediately followed by two bodies going into fight mode as the girl flung a tightly controlled leg sweep under him. He narrowly avoided it and pushed her backwards with a swift right hook.

“Woo!” Sokka found himself cheering but instantly regretted it as Zuko turned his direction and got punched hard in the sternum. Katara was clutching his arm too hard for him to get closer as he exclaimed in a strained voice, “Excuse me, crazy person? Are you trying to kill him?”

“That’s the plan,” She flicked her hair over her shoulder as she stepped over a hunched Zuko. She placed a neat little envelope on his crumpled body before tossing over her shoulder a too sweet, “Don’t be late, ZuZu.”

Zuko merely groaned in a quiet breath, the struggle to control the pain failing. He stood up with Aang’s hurried support as Sokka stared at the space where she just was. Katara examined the envelope with interest but refrained from opening it. Zuko tried to wave Aang off but eventually just let him help him to stand.

Sokka hovered near his shoulder, “So, your sister, huh?”

“She has a strong personality.”

“You mean the kind of person who would find the cure for cancer and then announce it by destroying it in a flurry of fireworks?”

Zuko seemed to seriously ponder the thought but ended on a half-shrug that was followed by a flinch from pain, “Like I said: strong willed.”

“Wait - why were you surprised to see her?”

He took the envelope from Katara and slid it into his pocket. “She doesn’t usually come back for the holidays.”

“She didn’t tell you she was coming?” Sokka tried to assess if there was more damage but if had learned anything from getting to know the grump, he was insanely good at tolerating and hiding pain when it would concern others.

Zuko’s good eyebrow rose as his mouth fell, “No? Why would she?”

“If you guys are spending the holidays together, wouldn’t that make sense?”

He grunted trying to readjust all of his things and avoid furthering the conversation. He began to walk to his class, not bothering waiting for Sokka. “Not really.”

“At least skip class, dumbass! You’re hurt!” He found himself protesting at another wince of pain as Zuko stepped wrong. He vaguely heard Katara calling his name in vain but continued to step in pace to his hurrying friend. The subject was dropped without question at a strong glare but he stayed close just in case he was needed. 

\---

Their dad made a Thanksgiving invitation online and sent it over text to their group chat. He got too distracted by the quality of the invite compared to their father’s ineptitude with technology while Katara read faster. What really sunk him was the tagline under the date and time, “Dear children, please make sure to bring any special someones (and Toph) ;)”

Katara glanced up from her phone and he could almost see the beginning of icicles just from the water in the air forming on her side of the table, “Why would dad say to bring ‘special someone’s’ like that? He knows you’re not dating anyone.”

The guilt dripping off of him must’ve been obvious. “Aren’t you more concerned about the use of a winky face? Does he even know the implications?”

“Sokka, I swear to every book I own, if you don’t answer my question, I will be forced to take extreme precautions.”

He really, really, didn’t want that; especially after last time. So, in a desperate clinging of sanity he admitted the truth, “He _might_ think that I have a boyfriend.”

The way Katara’s face instantly lit up and she hugged him grossly tight made his guilt drip slowly from a weight in his chest to a pool in his stomach. With a start she pulled back and gave him a whack, “Wait! Who? I know all your friends and honestly, we don’t have that many.”

His eyes drifted to a dusty windowsill he had pointedly ignored last time they cleaned, “He’s not coming to Thanksgiving so it doesn’t matter.”

She narrowed her eyes and her hands clenched at her waist, “Tell me.”

He flailed when he should have soared. His attempt to deflect didn’t work so he desperately clung to avoidance, “It doesn’t matter. It’s not serious. It’s not re-“

“You told dad!” Then her eyes grew wide and the emotions she flipped through was enough for an entire cast of a Hallmark movie, “Oh my g- Is it Zuko?”

When his answer wasn’t within 15 seconds, she got the response she wanted. She swiped her phone from the table and began typing, her nose scrunching and eyebrows furrowing as she left the room, “I swear-!”

He didn’t bother calling after her, it was a lost battle with too many casualties already. 

—-

An hour later, the boundaries were drawn and Sokka was standing safely behind the coffee table as he threw his arms to gesture to Aang, “I didn’t get a say with Aang!”

“That’s because parents love him! He’s immediately approved by everyone. Besides, you love him too! Don’t drag him down to your level!” Aang, meanwhile, was currently standing in the war path with grand bravery so he really couldn’t say he didn’t love him. He would take a bullet for either of them. His attempts to diffuse the situation, however, were greatly lacking. He couldn’t say that was really his fault to be fair. The two siblings were a force of nature and incredibly stubborn.

Sokka threw one more attempt to the wind, “Zuko could be great with parents! You don’t know!” She gave him such an incredulous look that he almost retracted his statement. But the anger was building within his chest and he felt the desire to defend his friend grow stronger, “He hasn’t even gotten a chance!”

And thus, he knew he had to create a plan in order to protect both his dad’s feelings and Zuko’s pride. Definitely not because he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with Zuko. Well, he could admit maybe a little that it would be kind of cool if they got to hang out over Thanksgiving and his family didn’t seem all too great anyway. Anyway, they had been spending every free day with one another and studying together in the times when they wanted some company. And had gotten ice cream a few times at Sokka’s insistence and coffee at Zuko’s. They had even played video games a couple of times and gone to the dumb movies on campus on the colder days. So, to spend even a few days apart now would be hard even with texting. 

He groaned to himself as he planned in the middle of the night. God, he was fucked. 

—-

His first attempts of his plan ‘Convince Zuko to Come to Thanksgiving and Be My Pretend Boyfriend But Only If It Doesn’t Make Him Uncomfortable’ weren’t what one would call ‘successful’. His palms were too sweaty and voice too low during his first try, “So, what do you normally do for Thanksgiving?”

He received a sour face that was acidic to plant growth around the world, “Usually I spend the day with my uncle.”

He felt a twinge of disappointed and worry that he might have to improvise but continued on, determined to see his plan through, “Is that what you’re doing this year?”

“No.” And he turned back to his work. So, they sat in silence as Zuko refused to elaborate and Sokka was prohibited from asking due to the sudden prevalence of laser beams around him. Next time, he thought to himself.

—-

The next time, it turned out, he attempted it with a rather unusual technique: subtlety. “So, are you going to see your sister soon?”

The snarl was enough of an answer and suddenly he found he didn’t have any particular desire to continue down that line of questioning, instinct to survive begging him to turn back. He waited a considerable amount of time when Zuko was fiddling with the pages of his textbook before swallowing around his fear, “Do you want to meet on Wednesday?”

The suspicion pinned him to his chair but he felt a rise of courage as Zuko hesitated, “Aren’t you leaving Tuesday night?”

Sokka feigned surprise, his arms coming up to clasp his cheeks and eyebrows lifting, “Oh yeah! I mean, I can leave later if we need to meet. It’s going to be our last presentation after break.”

“While I would love to delay my plans as long as possible, aren’t you leaving with your sister?”

“I was just thinking-“ He paused and then swerved to a different tactic, “Well, if you don’t want to go home this week, you could always come with us.”

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows, “With you? To where?”

“My house. For thanksgiving.” He saw the enlightenment strike Zuko when his eyes widened and his head drew back but as his mouth opened to respond, his words were cut short.

“Zuko!” They turned to see Aang dragging Katara behind him as he bounded over. Aang’s smile was bright and genuine as always but Sokka could see the twitching of Katara’s faux excitement at the meeting. They made record time in reaching them, the library rules seeming to fly over Aang’s glistening head as he gave excited greetings. Katara politely nodded hello to him and caught Sokka’s eye. For the second time that day, he had suspicion turned on him. 

Katara cleared her throat, “It’s such a delight to see you two today. I was just wondering about you, Zuko.” In that moment, Sokka knew with all his sibling knowledge, he would not be surviving to tomorrow after all. “I was texting dad earlier and he wanted to know if you had any allergies or were a vegetarian like Aang.”

“...Your...dad?” 

“Yes, I told him if you had any allergies, not to worry about it but he insisted.” Her smile told the truth. She would rather not know if he had allergies but was deeply wishing for them. He briefly thought about how until recently he too would’ve been fine watching him get hives from yeast or the like. He realized how rude and mean that was and tried to focus on the difficult task of reading Zuko’s emotions. 

Zuko’s forehead was beginning to look very wrinkly, “But...why?” 

The sharp edge of her smile as she unburied Sokka’s lies caused a dull pain in his chest, “For Thanksgiving. Sokka asked you, right?”

The final blow was incoming and he squared his shoulders. But in the next second, he saw Zuko look between the two of them and whether it was a sort of solidarity formed - or he was going to agree from the beginning, he didn’t know - but he sure did want to kiss some rings as Zuko nodded. He gave a pointy smile of his own as he locked eyes with Katara, “Of course.”

Her eyes softened in surprise but she hid it well. Aang seemed tuned into the drama now and his eyes were frantically ping ponging between the exchange. She gave Sokka a pat on the shoulder, “That’s good. I was worried since I had to tell dad that Sokka’s boyfriend was coming. I didn’t know if you hadn’t decided yet.”

Already inscribing his tombstone and getting ready to take himself out rather than suffer at the hands of both Katara and Zuko, he wasn’t prepared for the fire in the latter’s eyes to become sentient and transform into a coarse and strangled, “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Katara nodded and ignored the petrified Sokka as she dragged Aang back the way they came, most likely to strategize. Aang gave his goodbyes over his shoulder and before disappearing, she locked eyes with Zuko, “See you soon, then.”

Despite his best efforts to phase through the floor to escape the ensuing conversation, he was not so lucky. 

“Interesting,” Zuko began. He turned to Sokka and peered at him, “And where should I begin? So you weren’t just asking me to Thanksgiving without an ulterior motive, then?”

Sokka sputtered and flailed at trying to figure out what he should say first but then he noticed Zuko attempting not to burst out laughing, “Are...are you teasing me?”

He raised his eyebrow with the corner of his lips, “Well, of all people to tell your sister you’re dating, there had to be a good reason for that.”

“Hey! You’d be a great person to date!” His eyes widened at his words but he snapped his mouth shut so he didn’t take it back.

“How did that even happen?” He asked, completely skipping over Sokka’s admittance as if he didn’t believe it for a second.

“I was defending your honor!” Zuko remained silent and he sighed in resignation, “Well, okay, it started as a misunderstanding with my dad.” He received a nod of understanding at that. “And I just didn’t correct him ‘cause…my dad has been really lonely since me and Katara have been busy with college. He doesn’t want to worry us, but I know he’s not taking great care of himself. And he’s been so happy seeing Katara and Aang together and I know he worries about me. I just want him to know he doesn’t have to be concerned.”

“You have to be dating someone so he’s not concerned?”

He felt his hands drift to the strings of his hoodie. “No, but it helps. He knows I have friends to fall back on, but it eases his mind more if I’m dating someone because then he knows I have someone to talk to and who's looking out for me. Someone to be with rather than worry about him. You know?”

Zuko really looked like he didn’t have a clue what he was saying but nodded anyway, maybe to placate Sokka and his concerns over anything else, “Ah, alright. I’m in I guess if you think it’s a good idea.”

Sokka perked up, “Are you for real?”

“Well, it beats my Thanksgiving plans with my dad who hates me and my sister who might kill me in my sleep. And it might be nice.” 

“It’ll be fun! Toph comes too and we don’t have to be super touchy or anything.” He chuckled to ease the tension a little bit, “Besides, Aang and Katara have been super gross lately and I wanna give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“What if they don’t notice?”

Sokka briefly pales as he reflected on their astuteness when it came to love things and being too mushy in front of others. He steeled himself with firm shoulders, “We’ll just have to dial it up.”

“I swear if you pull out your plan binder…”

Sokka’s grin stretched from ear to ear as he whipped out a thick binder. 

“I still just don’t understand why that is the only thing you have a binder for.” He could feel the hot gaze directed at his slouching backpack that was unzipped and open for everyone to see the crumpled papers shoved inside. 

His foot, in an extremely clever maneuver that was definitely not seen by those jaded eyes, swept the deflating backpack from view, “Do you wanna hear the plan or not?”

Zuko rolled his eyes but his back was tilted to the side so Sokka knew it wasn’t a resistant eye roll. It was time to go to work

\---

Since he couldn’t explain the situation to Katara or Aang, who was loyal to a fault and he loved him for that, he turned to his best friend: Suki. 

They sat on the hill in front of the field they used for quidditch still sweaty and exhausted from playing, ice cream dripping down his fingers. It had become a tradition for after quidditch practices on Thursdays due to their busy schedules and love for ice cream. 

She listened intently even through his slight floundering. When he was done, she barely held in her absolute glee. Her lips quirked upwards in a smile, “Are you going to invite me to the wedding?”

“Suki!” He groaned and let his hand drop slightly before remembering his ice cream. “This is serious!”

“I know,” She replied, still obviously amused. “Only you could get into this situation. Well, Zuko is pretty dramatic too I suppose, but in a different way. Maybe you two are perfect for each other.”

He glared at her until she rolled her eyes and sat up straighter. She gave his shoulder a pat, “Okay, besides lying to your family, what are your concerns?”

“I’m just worried that he’ll end up hating me forever after this.”

“Oh, Sokka, don’t be ridiculous.” He raised his eyebrow and puffed his cheeks. Her laugh echoed on the field until she finally calmed down, “Listen, from what I know of his family, there is very little chance that this could end in him hating you forever. I would bet the bar is set high for his family tolerance.”

He shrugged but knew she was right, “It doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. We have a nice friendship right now and I don’t want to jeopardize it.”

She forced him to look at him, “Sokka, did we or did we not have a fantastic friendship when we met before we dated?”

“Did,” He replied surprised.

“And do we or do we not still have a fantastic and close friendship even after dating?”

“We do,” He grumbled into his ice cream as conceded her point. She watched the worry still on his face pull his eyebrows together and hunch his shoulders.

“What if…” She paused and at the soft tone, he shifted to face her better. She gave him a gentle smile that used to make his heart pound for days after. “What if you enjoy being boyfriend too much?”

He would have spit out his drink all over his ice cream if he hadn’t just swallowed, “What?!”

Suki placed a hand on his back with a slow rubbing motion, “Don't be stupid, Sokka. You're a great kisser, you have nothing to worry about.”

His back straightened instantly, “What the-! That’s not what I was worried about!”

Suki smiled, “It was once, remember?”

“Yes,” He mumbled. He knew she was right about everything as usual. 

She ruffled his hair and gave him one more pat on the back before standing. “You’ll be fine and I’m a call away if you need some hyping up.”

He nodded into his palm and mumbled his thanks. “I’m gonna need it a lot this weekend.”

“I know,” She said with a sliver of delight at his self-inflicted suffering. 

\---

Katara hung by his cracked bedroom door for an hour before he caved. He stretched as he stood to give her a last second to strategize, “I really want mac and cheese and that’s the only reason why I’m gonna acknowledge you.”

She tried leaning against the door frame as he stepped into the living room but missed slightly, ending up wedged between the door jam and the door. Her crossed arms tightened as he waited for her speech. Finally, she laid in but not in the way he expected, “I wanna say I’m sorry.”

He nearly choked on the comeback he had been planning for the past hour since first noticing her hovering, “I’m- what?”

She cleared her throat, “I’m sorry if I wasn’t initially supportive enough. I just...got worried.”

“Oh, so he was fine when I needed to interact with him for class but now that I’m dating him he’s not okay?”

“Yes!”

“Katara, that doesn’t even make any sense.”

She sighed and with a gentle pat on his arm said, “Sokka, you’re emotionally invested now.”

He threw his hands in the air and she rolled her eyes as she caught them before they were flung into her face by accident. He tilted his head and breathed in and squashed the rising panic, “I was before, I was just really angry instead of feeling positive emotions.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” She explained as she released him and twisted her shirt to busy her hands. “But it wasn’t fair how I reacted. I was blind to the true nature of Zuko. Really looking at you two interacting together,” She gave an exasperated sigh, “While gross, made me realize that he isn’t the same as before. I don’t think I really accepted that he was sorry in the beginning, I was just ready to put it behind me so I pretended to.” She swallowed loud enough for him to hear clearly, “You trusting him and hanging out with him should’ve been my first clue but I just couldn’t bring myself to feel less angry at first. I didn’t want you to get hurt and you being his group partner is different than his partner.”

He blinked in surprise and thought carefully, “Thank you for being concerned but I’m not worried about him.”

She smirked, “Oh? Interesting.” She followed him as he made a move towards the kitchen, “So, how much does dad know? I already told him to get all six scrapbooks he made down ‘cause Zuko would absolutely love to see all your embarrassing moments before you grew into your ears.”

He spun around like she wanted, “God! You suck! Tell him to put it away, there’s my phase of cosplay in those! I’ll get dad to show Aang your horrible pottery phase where you carved bad poetry on the side of everything you made!” She laughed and ducked his first attempt to tackle her. 

“He’ll love anything embarrassing I’ve done, nice try!” She put him in a gentle headlock and he didn’t like the mischievous look in her eyes as she hummed, “Your goth phase! He’ll love that!” 

He wrestled with her but she had a great grip and more fluid movement than him, “Stop! You’re so annoying! You’re supposed to be the responsible one.”

“I’m being responsible by showing him!” Katara shoved him over the couch back so he landed halfway on it and halfway on the floor but not on the edge of the coffee table, “Hey, what’re little sisters for?”

\---

When Tuesday came and his phone blew up with his set ringtone for Zuko, Sokka raced down the apartment stairs to the parked car and barely caught his breath before he blurted, “Are you ready?”

Zuko raised an eyebrow and tapped the glass. He rolled down the window and pushed his head out further to see more of the other, “What? The window was up.”

Sokka tried his best not to deflate, “I just asked if you were ready.”

Zuko’s lips twitched and quivered before he said, “I know. The window isn’t soundproof and you enunciate even when hyper.”

He clutched his chest, “Dude! That’s so rude!”

Zuko shrugged and gave him a sweetened smile that was tainted by the mischief in his eyes, “So, are _you_ ready?”

Sokka rested his arms on the top of the door frame as he leaned in close to his face, “I was born for this.” He did laugh at that and for longer than Sokka felt utterly necessary. He pouted as Zuko tried to keep small pricks of tears from falling, “I’m letting you sleep in the car now.”

“From what you’ve told me of your dad, in that weird parent trap style by the way, he’d never allow that. You’d be sleeping out there before me.”

Sokka folded his arms and backed off the car door so Zuko could get out and pop the trunk, “You’re the worst. A good boyfriend would never let that happen.”

Zuko eyed him, “I guess since I’m a bad boyfriend, I shouldn’t help you get your bags.”

“No!” Sokka whined, “The stairs are too steep, I don’t wanna carry all of them. The burden is far too great.” 

Just as Zuko was about to give in, he just knew it, they heard a loud: “Hey!” They looked back to see an angry Katara leaning out the door with Toph behind her lugging bags, “Are you guys done flirting or can we get a move on?” 

Under Katara’s strong organization and leadership, they managed to pack the car in record time. As soon as they had all piled in the car and Zuko’s hands gripped the steering wheel, he sat back in thought, “Wait, are you guys just using me for my car?”

A solid no came from Katara and Aang while a firm yes from Sokka caused him to get a kick at his seat from his sister. “You can’t say that to your boyfriend, idiot!”

He rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated flickering of his eyes in the direction of the hurt driver, “Sorry, firecracker. I meant to say: of course not.”

Zuko apparently didn’t seem to feel like making his life easier. He gave a big pout that Sokka didn’t know he had in him and looked away, “I’m sorry, I just thought we meant more.”

At the whispers beginning in the back, Sokka sighed, “I gave you an apology! What else do you want?” He wiggled his fingers across the console, “Do you want me to hold your hand too?”

A sharp glint of revenge to Zuko’s eyes as he whipped his head around caused the sinking feeling in Sokka’s stomach to settle at rock bottom. His hand was captured in a vice grip and Zuko’s smile sliced his hope of getting out of this without damage to his pride, “Yes.” He could feel the cooing and slight jealousy from Katara and steeled himself from making eye contact as his cheeks burned. He didn’t want to admit that the warmth and slight pressure was kind of nice. Even as his fingers got sweaty, the edge of anxiety about it calmed as they both periodically stretched their fingers or changed positions when the tingling got too much. And yet, they always found their way back. When they pulled up outside the house, his fingers lingered while he unbuckled and he forced the will power to detangle their hands. 

Everyone had piled out of the car except for them as Zuko attempted to figure out where to park. Sokka pointed three times before the car finally settled into a space that wouldn’t block anyone in. He unbuckled but stayed still as the engine grew cold, “Are you sure you wanna do this? I appreciate you doing it but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Zuko fiddled with the keys before he pulled them free of the ignition, “Should I be nervous?”

He barked out a laugh, “Are you really, firecracker? I didn’t think meeting the parent would make you so antsy.”

Zuko picked at the steering wheel absently, “What if I say something wrong or he thinks I’m stupid? What about sharing a bed? Will your dad think bad about me? I’m just not very good at dad stuff...”

“Dude, you’re gonna be fine. Besides, we’re not gonna have to share a bed, there’s no way.”

He watched an eyebrow arch and Zuko seemed regretful for his choice of words but also trying not to look hurt, “I don’t really care if we do as long as you don’t kick in your sleep. It’s your dad I’m worried about.”

His anxiety rose as he scrambled to remember if he did and it clouded his attention. He didn’t get a chance to process Zuko’s weak protest, “We can share if we need to, it doesn’t matter.”

He had to be cursed. That was the only explanation for why four minutes into meeting Zuko with such a happy grin that he almost teared up, Hakoda showed them to Sokka’s room. As if anticipating his reaction his dad clapped his shoulder, “Sokka, you’re an adult. You can share a room with your boyfriend.” He eyed the two of them as they stood nearly shoulder to shoulder despite having plenty of room to move. It had just become a habit with how close they were on Wednesdays. “Besides, I don’t want to hear you sneaking around at night to visit him.”

In a very cool manner, his voice cracked, “You’re acting like we’re engaged! We’re just dating.” Sokka got an elbow in his side before he could say more and he forced down his urge to glare at the owner. 

Hakoda looked briefly sheepish, “You can be pretty clingy at night. I remember you climbed in my bed at night for quite a few years. Your sister was explaining to me how I need to give you two a little more space when it comes to your love lives.”

Hakoda began telling another story and Sokka took the opportunity to narrow his eyes at Katara as she walked down the hall and she sneakily flipped him off behind their dad's back. He cut off the story as he saw the interest grow in Zuko’s change in body language. “It’s just, uh,” he grappled for an excuse, “Zuko is shy. This would really make him feel awkward around you.”

Hakoda’s eyes widened as he looked to the aforementioned, “Oh, I didn’t even consider that.”

He tried to wipe his face of evidence of his smugness but he had a hard time keeping his smirk from rising. Zuko piped up then and shrugged, “It’s fine, I can always sleep on the floor anyway.”

Satisfied, Hakoda beamed and nodded, leaving them to their own devices and help Toph instead. Sokka raised an eyebrow and jabbed him with his elbow in retaliation for before, “What about your worry of how he’ll think of you?”

Zuko headed into the room after him, “I realized that if the choice was either be near you or have my own room, I’d much rather be with you. Whatever you dad ends up thinking, you make me feel comfortable and he seemed fine with it anyway.”

“Okay.” Sokka bit his lip and shoved his bag in its usual place, not bothering to make eye contact as he said, “You can sleep with me on the bed, if you want. The floor is pretty cold and there’s plenty of room.”

“As long as you’d be comfortable with that.”

Sokka pointed to where he could put his stuff and looked directly at him this time to say, “Of course.” And he couldn’t help but hear the little voice in his head say that he’d be more than fine with that.

\---

Sokka’s dad left to help out a friend for awhile and everyone was gathered around the living room after throwing their bags in their respective room. Toph sighed gratefully as she sat in front of the heater and stretched her arms out, “Alright, what’s the move, gang?”

“What is there even to do here again?” Sokka partly grumbled as he laid face first in the couch arm.

Katara smacked him on the head, “Dad said we have to get the rest of the groceries but we could go to the mall for pretzels?” She turned to Zuko, “Is that okay?” He gave a shrug that she took for a confirmation and Sokka mumbled his resignation into the fabric before pushing himself up and off the couch.

“We’re gonna change to go to the mall, then.” Sokka yelled over his shoulder as he dragged Zuko to his room.

He paused right before his room and crowded him a little too close to the door. He whispered lowly, “Are you really okay with the mall? We can go somewhere else.”

Zuko took it upon himself to open the door so that Sokka partially fell forward into the room, “No, it’s fine.”

He dusted himself off as if he had been dropped into a trash heap and glared at him, “Hey, that was mean.”

“Your dad said something about scrapbooks, I’m really looking forward to those, to be honest.” 

Sokka grabbed clothes from his dresser and pointed with too much force like that would keep Zuko from doing anything he didn’t want him to do, “No! You’re not to look at those!” 

Zuko tilted his head and his neutral face betrayed his teasing tone, “Sorry, as I recall I’m a horrible boyfriend, just acting the part.”

He choked on the words he had planned out as he turned around just in time to see Zuko, in a bold move, unceremoniously strip off his shirt without warning. 

“Nothing to say? No apology? Interesting.” The smug grin really topped it all off. This was going to be a battle of will. 

Sokka threw a shoe in his general direction but as it bounced off the wall and onto the bed it was obvious there was no eal malice behind it, “You did that on purpose, asshole!” 

“A new nickname? I’m honored.” Zuko was grinning right up until a grumbling Sokka turned slightly to take off his own shirt to change. He felt vaguely like spiraling as his eyes traced the darkened freckled skin dancing along his shoulder down his shoulder blades. He followed the flush of embarrassment from his neck down further and his mouth felt dry even as he looked away filled with the shame of breaking his privacy.

He was shook out of his reverie as Sokka suddenly came close and waved a finger in his face with the shirt in his other hand beating against his leg, “That was so rude, I can’t believe you.”

Zuko felt compelled to take a step closer, his fingers clenching tighter around the shirt he was once holding but was becoming more like a dish towel being wrung out instead. He breathed in their shared air, “Sokka-“

“Guys! Oh, gross!” The view Katara encountered as she carelessly opened the door was just two shirtless guys standing unusually close to one another and absolutely nothing else, but her reaction was still understandable. 

They didn’t fly apart at the discovery, just drifted away as he yelled back at the fleeing figure more on reflex than irritation, “Knock first then, Sis!” 

“Fuck you!”

\---

They made it to the mall with little else happening. They got their pretzels and munched in the food court as they found different little things to talk about. Aang had dragged Zuko off to the for moral support, and because no one else would bite the bullet. 

Toph was stealing another pretzel from Sokka when she leaned close, “So, Sokka, why’s Zuko such a catch? I feel like he’s hung out with me the least so far. Is he super hot? Or just one of those people who are really nice after you defrost them?”

He coughed as he swallowed too much of his drink. His friends had too good of timing. His face heated and he knew she couldn’t see it but it felt like she just knew. “He goes to your class all the time. But, yes,” He sighed as he made reluctant eye contact with his sister because she would call him out on lying if he tried it, “He is really hot, if you have to know. He’s broody and sometimes he gets stuck in his own head and can be an asshole but he’s also funny and genuine.” 

Toph sat back and nodded as she stroked her chin, “Hmm...alright, just warn him we’re going on an adventure together soon to see if I approve of him.”

He decided that wasn’t a fight he was going to win. Toph got up and wondered to bathroom once she finished off his pretzels. They had been here often enough that she would be fine. He hoped that would be the end of the conversation. But of course, that’s when Katara decided to become interested despite the risk of hearing something gross about her brother’s love life. She stared him down before asking, “What else?”

In a flat tone he mustered, “I mean, have you seen his manly display of fighting prowess?” 

Katara raised an eyebrow, “The only time I’ve seen him fight was when his sister knocked the air out of him before he really got to do anything.”

“Exactly. Overall: exhilarating.”

She narrowed her eyes but nodded to appease him. “But why Zuko? I mean I knew you had a crush on him, I just didn’t think it would go anywhere.”

He felt a surge of defensiveness blind him, “What does that mean?”

She gave him a small smile and a gentle pat, “I don’t know. I just thought it was a friend crush that you get when you first get to know someone. You guys have stuff in common but I didn’t think you knew that.”

“You think we have stuff in common?”

“I think you’re more compatible than you know.”

A voice interrupted them from behind, “Yeah, two idiots in love is still a full idiot though.” 

Sokka turned to see Toph adjusting her bag to leave, “That’s not even a saying.”

“I just said it.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

She scoffed, “Maybe to an idiot.”

He stuck his tongue out just as hers popped out. 

Zuko and Aang came back in time to prevent there from being a physical altercation and Sokka walked alongside Zuko to curiously watch his body language a little more closely. The hope rising in him would be too much if it was crushed but the chance that just maybe there was a possibility...it made his chest lighten and his gut twist.

\---

Zuko was awoken the next morning by a loud voice and the bright sun streaming into his eyes. When he opened them, however, he was face-to-face with a grinning Sokka instead. “Not a morning person, huh?” He groaned in response.

They headed downstairs once both of them were dressed - which occurred through a very awkward bathroom shuffle - and were greeted with pancakes. The conversation was energetic between those who were used to one another but Zuko still managed to chime in every now and then, especially when Sokka would ask him something with that big goofy smile of his and three pancakes shoved in his mouth. The drip of syrup down his chin and the stickiness of his hands kept him on his toes every time he gestured to close to him. As soon as the dishes were cleared, Sokka tried to continue engaging him as he washed the dishes that couldn’t fit in the dishwasher. He glanced out the corner of his eye at Zuko every few minutes as he hovered between the counter and the table. He could see the slight discomfort along the worrying of his lip between his teeth and the twitches of his eyebrows at different intervals, but overall the ease of the situation kept him from running. He didn’t want to say he perhaps had fun, but he didn’t look entirely disgusted. That was until everyone but Hakoda, who was heading off to do some work, was herded to the door. 

Zuko waited until halfway through lacing up his boots to ask, “Wait, where are we going?”

The grin that stretched across Sokka’s face promised either success or pain, “Ice skating. You put on extra layers like I suggested, right?”

Zuko’s face drained of color faster than he had ever seen, “Oh, I’m good.” His boots still had laces dangling loose but he looked ready to retreat.

“Have you been before?” Toph asked amicably. They were mainly getting along because Zuko was so easy to tease and while that was normally Sokka’s turf, he tried not to protest too much.

“C’mon, get your keys and let’s go!” 

“Again, it really seems like you guys just needed a driver.”

Toph gave him a pat on the back that must’ve been hard by the flinch that followed, “Don’t be ridiculous, you know we can all drive here!”

Before he could protest again, Aang skipped out the door with her and a wide grin while Katara left as soon as she finished balancing their necessities in her arms. Sokka turned to him and the joking demeanor dropped slightly, “You don’t have to go if you really don’t want to. We can do something else or you can hang out here. Although, my dad may come back and you’d be stuck with him then.” He raised his eyebrows, “There will be questions.”

Zuko swallowed and averted his eyes, “No, I’ll go. I just...don’t know how to skate.”

Sokka lit up and clapped his hands together, “I can teach you! I know you hate to lose but as long as you’re not afraid of falling, it’ll be a piece of cake. We already know you’re athletic.”

“Athleticism doesn’t matter to the ice. It takes no survivors, only victims.”

He tossed the keys to Zuko, who caught them in resignation, “Firecracker, you sound like someone who hates cats.”

\---

Toph wasn’t amazing at skating only because of the disconnect between her feet and the ground. She had been hesitant but after coming a few times with them and getting used to swinging around with Aang, she had come around to it. That’s why when Zuko scowled for the first fifteen minutes as he clung to the sides of the indoor rink, he knew that it wasn’t a bust until he at least tried. 

“C’mon, you can do it, you just have to find your balance.”

Aang gliding by to do several professional moves in a row that made him look vaguely like he was levitating didn’t help the situation. He watched Zuko’s will to live begin to freeze as he shivered so he drew the attention back to himself. Sokka zipped up Zuko’s coat a little further in a bold move, powering through when he realized how close it meant his hand was to the other’s lips, and began to power stance in his skates the best he could, “Are you ready for the best lesson in ice skating of your life?”

Zuko glared at him but looked more like a cat who knew it was about to plopped in a bath, “One of you will actually have to drive if I get hurt, just remember that.”

“Sounds good!” Sokka exclaimed as he gave his arm a pat. He held out his hand and he could feel Zuko pouring all the trust he had acquired over the past few months into this handhold. They glided together as he explained the easiest ways to avoid falling. And while Zuko’s hand was firmly cutting off circulation to his by how tight it was and Aang scared him whenever he zoomed by a few times yelling french fry or pizza, he couldn’t help but think that he really enjoyed it. They went around the rink a few times and even when it was clear that Zuko didn’t need him any longer to balance when going as slow as they were, their hands stayed connected. He tried not to read too much into it.

And then time slowed down as he knew Zuko was going to fall before it happened but he didn’t anticipate Zuko’s lack of grace in falling. They went down together in a heap, the latter catching the brunt of the impact. 

After simply laying there and taking in the incident for a few moment, Zuko took off a glove to use his actual fingers to detangle them despite looking as if he couldn’t bend them properly. His hand grazed the portion of his coat that had ridden up in the fall and the cold sensation against the brisk air jolted him. Zuko didn’t seem to immediately notice as they struggled to stand but the calloused fingers moving against his skin had him unfocused. 

When the hand withdrew, they were both finally standing upright against the side. Zuko was close to him when he asked, “Are you okay?” The sincerity in his eyes caused Sokka’s throat to tighten. His ears burned under his beanie and he shoved it further over them in a gesture that usually meant it was falling off. 

“Yup. It happens all the time in ice skating. That’s the danger in it.”

By the end, Zuko had adjusted to the difference between land and frozen water and could pull off a few quite impressive tricks he hadn’t expected. Aang had ended up being a better teacher and tried after Katara had been too apathetic in her lessons. There were bruises and dents in some egos but the sweaty pile of bodies that climbed into the car were overall satisfied. Zuko even glanced over at him as he gripped the wheel and smiled as he held out a frozen hand, “I need some warmth.”

Sokka sunk slightly in his seat and tried not to scramble to join their hands and show the heat of his ears, “Alright, Bossy, I’m coming to save the day.”

There was a playful glint to his eye and a far too pleased grin as he replied, “My hero.”

\----

The rest of the day was devoted to preparing their feast. There was a swell of pop music playing as Sokka and Zuko peeled potatoes and 

Hakoda even talked to Zuko a few times to get to know him. The sweet way he looked at his kids and genuinely looked interested in what they were doing no matter how stupid or small made Zuko;s heart swell. Sokka leaned over at one point to steal one of his finished potatoes and carved it into a weird interpretation of the Thinker statue and his dad thought it was so funny that he made it the centerpiece. The atmosphere of acceptance

“It wasn’t always like this, y’know?” Sokka mentioned when he noticed Zuko’s quietness. He watched all of them laughing as Aang turned the stand mixer on too high by accident and became covered in his cake batter. “It took awhile to get here especially after my mom and other...setbacks.” He breathed in and closed his eyes and Zuko watched his fingers fidget. Before he could question himself, he reached and intertwined their hands. Sokka’s eyes opened in surprise but his face melted into something softer and thankful. He ran his thumb alongside Zuko’s hand gently, “I think, it was worth it though. If this is what we got in return.” Together, they watched Katara and Hakoda clean as much batter off Aang as they could while Toph swiped the rest to eat with too much glee and a polaroid Katara took after it happened. 

“Thank you for inviting me,” Zuko said.

Sokka tilted his head to study him, “Thank you for being a great pretend boyfriend.”

“It’s a pleasure,” He replied, suddenly more conscious of how close they were. Sokka felt a pull to do more and yearned for Zuko to do more, but settled for the warm connection of their hands as they stared at their tower of potatoes.

\---

“Alright, so it’s tradition to watch Bridget Jones's Diary on the eve of Thanksgiving,” Sokka swiftly explained as he practically ran to put the disc in the DVD player. Zuko looked to Katara for guidance and she rolled her eyes. 

“It’s not, he just likes watching it.”

“I’m sitting next to Zuko!” Toph called as she ran and took a leap into the middle of the couch right next to where an abnormally stiff Zuko was now trapped between her and Aang. 

Sokka whipped around with a glare, “Hey! That’s my seat!” 

“You’re not sitting in it!” She pointed out loudly, settling in more. 

“Hey! That’s my boyfriend, I should get to sit next to him!” He knew he was being a little too forceful over his pretend boyfriend, but honestly Toph had no right to that seat. He looked to Aang but he knew Katara would fight him if he made Aang move and there was no place for two people besides that part of the couch. He huffed loudly.

Zuko shifted and sat forward, “I...I can move if you want.”

Toph clamped down on his arm and pulled him back. “Nope!” She exclaimed, “We never get to hang out so it’s my turn. Sokka always monopolizes you, he can deal through his dumb romcom!” He flipped her off and she stuck her tongue out, knowing what he was doing. He folded his arms and 

Hakoda came into the room balancing several bowls of popcorn and gave one to Sokka as he passed, “Are you going to sit down? There’s the other armchair I’m not sitting in or you could just sit in front of your boyfriend if you’re going to throw a fit.”

He gritted his teeth but at the hands of defeat, he chose to sit between Zuko’s legs after making sure that would be comfortable for him. As he settled into the warmth, Zuko relaxed as well and obediently held the popcorn bowl that Toph was given. As soon as the descriptive services were put on and the movie began to play, the atmosphere cooled into a cozy one he wasn’t used to. Sokka crying at the ending when Bridget and Mark kissed in the snow only made it better. 

\---

Zuko was gently shaken awake that night alongside an urgent call of his name, “Zuko! Zuko!” His heart beat hard as he reoriented himself to the unfamiliar room. He rubbed his eyes as Sokka impatiently pointed to the window, “Look! Snow!”

“Don’t you see snow all the time?” He asked, still in a haze.

“The first snow is important!” He whispered and tugged on Zuko’s sleeve until he finally dragged himself into a better position to see the snow. He had to admit, it did look magical and important. It was the middle of the night so the snow was only visible due to the moon and the faded orange glow of the street lamps. Sokka let out a soft laugh under his breath and looked over to find eyes filled with surprise locked on his. They spent a second tracing the outline of his lips but seemed to be searching for something specific. “What?” He asked with a smile that hooked upwards more on one side as his fingers lingered a bit too close to the others. 

Zuko breathed out slowly in the quiet, “Nothing. It’s just - you really love this, don’t you?”

He raised an eyebrow but nodded, “Yeah. It’s just, this light snow is perfect!”

“You’re just saying that because it reminds you of Bridget Jones’s Diary and you want to have a romantic moment like Bridget at the end.”

“How dare you,” he responded but couldn’t deny it. He just didn’t know how Zuko read his mind. 

As if he said that aloud he got an answer, “You were really invested in it when we watched it earlier and kept talking about it. You literally cried when they kissed in the snow.”

“I only teared up, thank you!” He replied indignantly before returning to watch the gentle fall of the snow and how the moonlight made it seem almost magical. “Snow like this just makes the hard edges of life melt away. There’s little moments of beauty in the things we take for granted sometimes. Even though life just isn’t easy and it’s not like TV and cheesy lifetime movies. You can plan it all out and then be completely obliterated by your own doing. But there’s still things you can find that seem perfect or like it was the last piece to a puzzle.” He glanced at Zuko, “But again, life isn’t perfect in any way.”

Zuko was at a lost for words so he settled for teasing. “Strong words for someone hoping to have a romantic moment from a romcom.”

“Shut up!” He whispered as loudly as he could. He gave him a gentle shove. Their eyes drifted back to the window as the wind played in the snow and it began to resemble a snowglobe. Soon, Zuko was snoring softly with his head tucked against Sokka’s neck. He smiled and ran his hand through his hair and played with the little pieces that strayed. He let sleep take him too as he questioned whether he even really needed a big romantic instance anymore if he had these little moments of completeness now. 

\---

They were getting ready for the beginning of their Thanksgiving feast when Zuko finally admitted, “Yes, okay, I don’t entirely hate your puns.”

Sokka eyes grew like the teasing opportunities. “You light up my heart in flames,” he replied with no shame and a large grin. He raised his eyebrows a few times to lay it on thicker. 

He was buffed with a wave. “Alright, that’s enough, I get it.”

He slid even closer and leaned in, “You make me feel alit with a-“ He was cut off as Zuko whipped around at the same pace and their faces were closer than before. The humor was swept from him as time paused around them. He breathed out a hot shaky breath in the small space and the insight on the tip of Zuko’s tongue just a moment before morphed into something that hung in the air as a link between them. 

He felt a rise of anxiety as he debated whether it was a sudden death match game of chicken or if there was a spark hidden in tall grass. Time seemed to drag as his chest got tighter. Zuko’s eyes were trained on his lips, he _knew_ they were, but he still whispered in the shrinking space between them, “We...have to finish getting ready for Thanksgiving lunch.”

“Yeah,” He agreed but didn’t move. It took a few minutes and the boom of Hakoda asking if they were ready yet until they finally moved apart. The bubble that had seemed to exist for only them deflated as they got ready without making eye contact and made their way to the dining room in comfortable, but denying, silence. It didn’t last long due to the other occupants. 

Everyone sat around the food that looked the nicest it was going to look until it was destroyed as soon as Hakoda gave the signal. He looked around the table at each of his children and friends and looked so happy that Zuko understood what Sokka had meant when he said he just wanted his dad to worry less. The wrinkles around his lips appeared around his eyes instead as he grinned, “So, what is everyone thankful for?” 

“Dad, _please_ , we have guests,” Sokka complained before the question was even asked. 

Toph, in a clear effort to make Sokka’s life harder, only encouraged him, “I’m thankful for having a full class that I get to wield to my every command if I want.”

“That’s very nice, Toph, I’m so proud of you for all your accomplishments this year,” Hakoda said and she beamed. He looked to Katara who looked resigned to this tradition.

Aang smiled, “I’m thankful that I have people to spend Thanksgiving with even if I don’t enjoy the message of it.”

Katara was sitting next to him so she followed him, “I'm grateful for my family and my friends and my boyfriend.” She smirked at Sokka, “And I’m glad my brother finally got the guts to get the guy.”

“Hey!” He protested but was drowned out by Hakoda’s agreement. 

“Well, I’m thankful for my children who love me, despite my mistakes,” Hakoda began, “And I’m thankful for the people who love them as much as I do for when I can’t be there for them like I want. I’m thankful they grew up to be strong adults who are compassionate and stubborn even when it gets them in trouble.” He looked to Zuko, “He’s a handful, but I’m glad someone like you is there for him.”

Zuko felt the edges of his eyes water slightly at the love he suddenly felt. He saw the eyes were on his, including a curious Sokka’s so he cleared his throat, “I’ve never really done one of these before but I’m thankful for the perspective I’ve gained recently from people who are so kind and wise. And I’m grateful for second chances so that I could get to know Sokka despite not really deserving to.”

Sokka’s eyes widened and he bit his lip scrambling to reply to that, “I’m thankful for the chance to experience all different kinds of love,” He turned to face Zuko more and looked him in the eyes as he swallowed his fear, “I’m thankful that I got to experience the love you’ve given me. No matter who deserves what, I’ll never forget this gift you’ve given me: a little moment of beauty in the ordinary.”

Zuko stared at him stunned until Hakoda finally cleared his throat and announced it was time to eat. But even as they both got food, the edges of the table seemed to melt away and all that mattered was the love they shared in that moment. Sokka knew what he wanted to do about it but he had to wait so he ate and laughed and joked even as his thigh touched Zuko’s under the table. His face was overrun with the food they had all made together and a goofy grin he couldn’t contain.

Hakoda was munching on his food and sincerely looked like he was having a grand old time with his children and their chaotic friends. He finished off a corn cob in the lull before Hakoda leaned forward, “Zuko, would you mind passing me the rolls?”

A waft of Zuko hit Sokka’s nose as he reached in front of him for the rolls and he had the urge to pull him in for a kiss or even a quick peck to the hair. He held in a groan as he came to his own damn self enlightenment and maybe, as Katara suggested, stupidity. 

“Sokka, is there anything you’d like to bring up?”

He choked on the potato salad he had shoved in his mouth, “Excuse me?”

He was saved by Toph and Aang conspiring. They began to bang their forks on the table, chanting in unison, “Don’t be complicit! Don’t be complicit!”

Hakoda sighed from his spot at the head of the table, “Kids, please.”

Toph jabbed a knife in his direction, “Don’t be complicit in this celebration, sir!”

Hakoda gestured to Aang, “Alright, have you got your speech ready?”

Zuko leaned to Sokka and whispered as quietly as he could, “Uh, what’s happening?”

Sokka moved his arms a lot but mainly shrugged as if it was an answer. Toph, her sharp hearing picking up his question, peered towards him and in a faux hushed tone delightfully said, “Aang is going to educate us on the tradition of Thanksgiving and the natives that still suffer today due to the idiocy of colonialism.”

“Does he do this every year?”

“Yup! It’s a tradition. We celebrate being together but also remember those who are fighting still.”

Zuko nodded but whispered a thanks quickly after. Sokka watched as he straightened in his chair and paid more attention as Aang stood next to Hakoda in a dramatic flourish. He produced a model set of what looked like a boat and something with trees and was apparently, as Toph commented to him quietly, that was more advanced than last year but still a little rough. 

It was the most fun Zuko had ever had at a family dinner so he watched with glee as they gestured wildly at random silly points and fought over food and laughed together.

—

They ate lunch and then immediately after was family board games. Sokka didn’t want to lose his bravery in what he wanted to confess but he still got lost in the ease of the games. He texted Suki to get the hype she offered with a simple, _‘I’ve discovered I have a huge massive crush on my pretend boyfriend and I think it could be definitely mutual’_

She replied faster than he expected with a _‘Finally! Get your pretend man! You’re gonna do great :’)’_ and more messages to encourage him. He smiled and glanced up to Zuko’s eyes that were questioning what he was up to but he just smirked instead. They went from Monopoly to Uno to Yeti in My Spaghetti with a random movie blaring in the background. Finally once it was clear they were getting sleepy from their meal and the competitiveness to continue to play games was losing steam, Hakoda announced they were free to do their own things until dinner with leftovers. 

Sokka essentially dragged Zuko to his room and shut the door softly. He leaned against it and took a breath in as Zuko gave him a grin that he noticed seemed to be only for him and made him feel like jelly. He thought of the times that pointed to it being mutual and he took one of Zuko’s hands in his to steady himself. 

“Zuko, I meant what I said at Thanksgiving. I love you, not as a pretend boyfriend should, but as a real one would.”

“Are you sure?” Zuko asked hesitant as he stepped closer.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat, “Yeah. I realized that it’s different with you. I want to tell you things, I want to see your smile, I want to be the person that you talk to when you’re sad...I feel free when I’m with you. And I don’t want to pretend date you, I want a real relationship with you.”

Zuko grabbed his other hand in his and brought it up to his lips to give it a gentle kiss, “I meant what I said too. I love you and I have for awhile..Sorry it took me so long to tell you. I wasn’t sure if you still had a grudge for the longest time.”

Sokka was more pleased with the development than brought down, he could deal with this now that he knew Zuko’s feelings, “I bought you coffee! I hung out with you every day almost!”

Zuko let out a breathy chuckle, “I know. But there’s so many different issues like...what about after graduation?”

Sokka rocked on his heels despite not being able to go far with Zuko’s grip, “You won’t be able to get rid of me that easily. Even if we have to be apart for awhile, this feeling I have, I think it’s strong enough for anything. Even dealing with your dad or a thousand uncertainties.”

“Alright,” Zuko conceded with a mumble. His face was reddening by the second. 

“Boy, you’re so dumb.” Sokka said gleefully as he nestled his nose in Zuko’s warm hair. “I told you that I liked you.”

“I thought you meant as a friend…”

“What about when I literally alluded to wanting to kiss you one time? Did you not even consider that maybe I liked you back?”

“Constantly, but I couldn’t be sure and I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“That I wouldn’t be any good in a relationship. That I couldn’t give you what you needed. That I was being dumb. That you would change your mind.”

He tugged him down so their lips were centimeters apart. The hot breath on his face was slightly gross and weird, but knowing it was entirely Zuko and he was responding to him only made it worth it. He smiled, “Did you think I didn’t have those fears?”

Zuko tried to shrug but with their bodies so connected it was more of a slight jerk. “I didn’t know...know how to begin, I guess.”

“Don’t worry, I got you now.” Sokka looked up at the other’s eyes and his own softened. His heart felt like it was going to both beat out of his chest and just tighten into oblivion. He cupped the other’s cheek and he waited for the nod from Zuko to run his hand further up his hair until his thumb grazed the edge of his cheekbone. He waggled his eyebrows before closing his eyes and meeting his lips.

A pounding on the window startled them backwards. They whipped their heads over to see Azula crouched outside the window which was cracked, “This is just so sweet but it is quite colder than I expected out here.”

“Azula?” They exclaimed together. 

Sokka came out of his reverie first, “Excuse me, but did you drive 40 minutes just to sit outside my window?”

She waved a turkey leg, “No, I drove 40 minutes to eat a turkey leg and watch my dearest brother get absolutely annihilated via humiliation as he lacks the proper social skills to effectively and convincingly convey his deep seated emotions.”

She slid through the window and stood in the room. He raised a hand to fully convey his mocking tone, “Full offense is intended here, I feel like your opinion on social skills don’t really count.”

He shrieked as a knife impaled his sleeve to the wall, his eyes bulging from his eyes. She smiled, not even appearing like she moved a muscle, “That’s just a butter knife.” Her smile split into a toothy grin, “Just imagine a steak knife a few inches over.”

Zuko slammed the window shut but she looked unbothered and waited before waving something white. He ripped the knife from his sleeve and snarled. He quickly paled when he realized what it was. He opened the window again, “How mad is he?”

She hummed and tapped a long finger against her lips, “Well, if you had called I’m sure he would have just brushed you off so doing it this way was much more dramatic.” She scrunched her nose, “I’m so proud of you, ZuZu.” She stopped waving the white thing enough that Sokka realized that it was a white envelope like she left when they first met. 

He understood immediately, “Is that an invitation to your dad’s Thanksgiving?”

Zuko gave him a look, “Yeah. He doesn’t really want me there, he just doesn’t want rumors started. But he didn’t bother calling me, he sent Azula instead, so he’s not that pissed off.”

“Maybe I volunteered, dear brother,” She said as she climbed back through the window. She swung her legs so they were still inside and warmer. He glared at her and she grinned back. “Besides, if you had read the actual letter then you would know that the dinner is actually a formal event with his ten closest senators and it’s on Saturday.”

“I’m lost - is that better or worse?” Sokka moved subtly closer to Zuko.

Azula didn’t seem to mind being partially blocked by a window, “Better that he didn’t miss it but worse if he does.”

Sokka looked to Zuko and could see the color draining from his face at his future, “That’s good, you still have time to make it, right?”

His fists clenched and he gritted out, “I don’t want to go, though.”

The now devoured turkey leg was handed to Sokka as Azula pulled her legs back through the window and crouched to leave her last piece of advice, slightly muffled, “ZuZu, you know as well as I do that it won’t end well if you don’t come back.”

With one swift movement, Zuko slammed the window shut before she could utter another threat. She snarled and suddenly, Sokka felt like he understood the distress the turkey went through that Aang was always talking about. Zuko held her gaze firmly and without surrender until she disappeared from view. Sokka waited until the anger simmered down, “Is your dad still mad, then, that you changed schools?”

Zuko was quiet and focused on the soft movement of Sokka’s fingers constantly moving against his as the latter waited patiently. Finally, he sighed, “I needed to do it. I took a chance because I saw you guys and I had a realization as I thought about my dad yelling at me and how I wasn’t happy anymore.”

Sokka tried not to move too suddenly in surprise and thought back to their first meeting at the beginning of the semester. “You said it was about apologizing.”

With wide eyes as if Sokka had completely believed that, he quickly tried to amend his words, “It was, but I also couldn’t transfer for just that reason. It definitely gave me the realization in the beginning that I needed to change something in my life.”

“You’re so dramatic.” He turned around and Zuko dragged him closer. For the sake of keeping up the persona, he tried to remain steel-faced. He knew his eye roll was becoming affectionate and his lips twitched as his new partner nuzzled into his neck, “Aw, come on! You’re using my love against me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zuko replied with a fond smile giving him a peck on the cheek. 

“Spoiled rich boy.” He was squeezed harder for his effort and arms were weaving underneath his tightly crossed ones. 

“Ah, oh no, my appetite for fancy tasteless crab has been permanently ruined.”

He tried not to perk up at the mention of crab, a fan favorite in his household. He cleared his throat to continue the disguise of his pleasure, but he made the mistake of looking back into Zuko’s eyes that shone with care and humor. He breathed in and against his jumpy heart that just wanted to stay in the gentle warmth of his new boyfriend, he said, “You have to go back”

“Yeah,” Zuko whispered into his hair as he pulled him closer. He felt pieces lift with his breath and felt him sigh rather than heard him. He pulled back again, “But...I don’t have to leave yet. It’s only Thursday and the party isn’t until Saturday.”

“Your dad can’t even do Thanksgiving right,” He lifted his chin, “So we have time to watch the new two Bridget Jones’s?” He teased even as his face lit up. He saw Zuko perk up and seem interested but changing his plan, he instead smiled and gave him a quick kiss, “You’re never gonna escape. Come one, we need to clear something up.” 

Sokka gently led them to the dining room where everyone was setting up for dinner leftovers. To their surprise, somehow Azula had managed to convince Hakoda to let her in and was helping and engaging in polite conversation with him as they set up. 

Taking a deep breath in and as if crowning a wrestling champion, he linked their hands and lifted them above their heads, “I’m here to tell everyone without attachments, that I love Zuko.”

With an uncharacteristic shy wave that didn’t match the stoic expression, he watched the recognition from the other that he needed to say something and led with a very intelligent and not at all awkward: “Hi, Zuko here.”

No one was impressed. His dad looked kind of confused as if it was a dare and Toph began to boo, “That’s gross and information we already knew and didn’t need regurgitated.” She beamed anyway, “But I’m happy for you two gross birds.”

\---

“Do you want a ride back, ZuZu?” She was standing outside in shorts despite the snow and had stayed for all of dinner. Hakoda had even given her snacks in tupperware to eat on the road.

 

Sokka tried very hard, the hardest he’s ever had to try, to not laugh. He knew he couldn’t in front of Azula. This could not be their solidarity - at least in front of Zuko. A sharp elbow encountered his side ‘by accident’ and he quickly sobered up. He let his eyes trace the sharpness of the other’s cheekbones and the conflict that swirled in his eyes. Eventually, ‘Zuzu’ shook his head, “No, I’m good. I’ll see you soon.”

With a wide smile that was way too toothy for a human, she flicked her eyes from each of them and then said, “Alright, enjoy your holiday while you can.” She trained her gaze on Sokka and he tried not to sweat, “Tell your dad thanks for the meal. It was absolutely succulent.”

WIthout knowing if she meant it or not, and resigning himself to never truly, Azula strutted to the car and gave them a wave of her fingers before getting in. The two girls inside cheered and the one driving turned up the radio as she shot down the street. He thought about yelling about the dangers of doing so in a neighborhood, but refrained to instead stare after them, “Does your sister have a posse?”

Zuko didn’t hesitate for a second as he continued to stare off in the direction they headed, “Yes.”

Feeling the tension drop with the snowflakes in the air, Sokka wrapped his arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek. He had meant it to be a fast and chaste one, but Zuko turned his head to look him in the eyes and he felt a swell of affection. He had spent months looking into those eyes and yet he still wanted to chase them after every glance. He could feel his fingers beginning to lose feeling from the cold but his chest kept him warm at the thought. He moved his fingers at the base of the other’s flushing neck and absently twirled little pieces of hair there, “I think I love you.”

Zuko’s expression instantly melted into a smile, “You told me less than five minutes ago.”

“I know, but I wanna tell you every second of every single day until it haunts you.”

He felt arms snake around his waist, “I feel like you were trying to make that seem romantic but do you know it sounded more like a threat at the end there?”

His nose crinkled and he stood on his toes, “Sorry, that’s the plan, babe, it’s set in stone. There’s no going back now.” After a moment of just existing in the embrace of Zuko he remembered the times he wasn’t brave enough to say more and tugged on a piece of Zuko’s hair that hung in his face so he could twirl it around, “I’m sorry for being an idiot.”

He watched an eyebrow quirk and lips twitch upward in amusement, “You’re going to have to be more specific with your track record.”

“Hey,” He caught his hand and held it close to his chest in an attempt to imbue some of his warmth into the chilly fingers he laced between his own. He deepened his voice ever so slightly, “I would apologize every moon when the beams hit the windowpane and the crickets sing, if it meant you would be mine.”

Zuko snorted in his ear, “And you said you weren’t a poet.”

He pulled back enough for Zuko to see his widen eyes, “I did! I said that was a great poet! You didn’t believe me!”

The burst of laughter that followed clued him in to the teasing but the burst of defensiveness didn’t completely disapiate. Sokka smiled when they broke apart from a kiss and felt little trembles as Zuko shivered, “Hey, we have our next project due soon, we should go work on that.”

“It’s not due for like two weeks…” He felt a full body shiver from Zuko. “Wait, are you just cold?”

“Not with you by my side.” The answer was immediate, but he wasn’t fooled. He gave an exaggerated pout that only made Zuko’s grin wider. 

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the cheesy one in this relationship! Also, I know that’s just a ploy to sap my body heat.” He tried to wiggle away from the clenching arms and got a sloppy, loud kiss on his cheek for his troubles. He rolled his eyes but he knew the obnoxious smile gave him away. He peppered his new boyfriend in kisses as he gave in and sank into their shared warmth. The group projects were what brought them together, but the last one could wait at least a few hours. Maybe longer if he convinced Zuko to watch more romcoms.


End file.
